Methods and systems for providing relevant season series recording functionality

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided herein for scheduling a season recording. A series is provided to a user device, the series having a plurality of sequential seasons, and each season having a plurality of episodes. A request for recording the series is received from the user. In response, a last episode of the series watched by the user is identified. A relevant season of the plurality of seasons is then determined, such that the relevant season precedes another season of the plurality of seasons and includes the last episode watched by the user. Then, episodes of the relevant season that follow the last episode watched by the user are scheduled for recording, such that episodes of a season that precedes the relevant season are not scheduled for recording.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/857,183, filed Dec. 28, 2017, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/558,328, filed on Sep. 13, 2017, and toU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/441,897, filed on Jan. 3, 2017, allof which are fully incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

Modern media systems (e.g., smart TVs) provide a menu that may includemenu icons that allow the user to launch an application by interactingwith (e.g., by clicking on a) respective menu icons. Menu icons cansometimes provide additional information to the user, e.g., a menu iconcan be changed to indicate that some kind of a sale or a promotion isgoing on. However, such menu icons fail to inform the user about theaccount status of the application associated with the respective menuicon. That is, the user has no way of knowing their account status(e.g., whether the user has a premium subscription or a freesubscription) before actually launching the application. This deficiencycan lead to an undesirable user experience where the user launches anapplication and cannot get the desired content, or a user may miss outon the desired content because they did not know they had access.

Additionally, menus of the modern media systems are often mismatchedwith a remote controller device that is being utilized by the user.Currently, users will often use third-party devices or software-basedremote controllers with varying number of inputs (e.g., buttons, scrollwheels, touchpads, microphones, etc.). Consequently, menu interfacesprovided by the media systems will often have user interface elementsthat have no corresponding input on the user's remote controller.Alternatively, or additionally, menu interfaces may also fail to utilizethe inputs that are present on the remote controller.

Furthermore, modern media systems may have a capability that allows auser to set up a “season pass recording” of a series (e.g., TV series).Generally, the user will have an option to record either all seasons ofthe series or first-run episodes only. However, such systems generallydisregard how far along in the series the user currently is. Inparticular, such systems lack an ability to record just the season thatis most relevant to the user based on the last episode of the seriesthat was actually watched by the user.

SUMMARY

To this end and others, systems and methods are provided that improvethe media consumption experience for users by providing menu icons thatindicate what level of access the user gave to an application associatedwith that menu icon. For example, the system may determine the accountstatus of the user with respect to an application (e.g., if the user hasa premium paid level of access or free access.) Then, the system maygenerate an appropriate icon based on the level of access. For example,if the user has a premium paid level of access, the icon may behighlighted in bright yellow, while if the user has a free level ofaccess the icon may be presented in muted blue. Other ways todifferentiate icons may also be used as further explained below. Thegenerated menu icon is then presented to the user to provide accesslevel information even before the application is launched.

To this end and others, systems and methods are provided that improvethe media consumption experience for users by providing a menu interfacethat is optimized for the type of remote controller that is utilized bythe user to control a user device. The system may detect functionalityof a remote controller, e.g., by communicating with the remotecontroller or by receiving an input identifying the remote controller.The system may determine how each input of the remote controller islabeled and what functionality it has. The system may then select a userinterface such that all of that interface's elements match the label andfunctionality of at least one input of the remote controller. Theinterface may then be displayed on the user equipment.

To this end and others, systems and methods are provided that improvethe ability of a media guidance application to record a relevant seasonof a series. A system may provide some episodes of a series (e.g., TVseries) to a user. The system may then receive a request from the userto record a relevant season of the series. The system may determine therelevant season by determining what season the last episode watched bythe user belongs to. The system can then set up a recording of onlythose episodes that belong to the relevant season and come after thelast episode watched by the user. This is particularly useful when therelevant season is not the last season of the series (e.g., season 4 ofa series that has five seasons). In this scenario, storage space issaved by recording only episodes of the relevant season (e.g., season4), but not episodes of irrelevant seasons (e.g., season 5).

In some embodiments, a media guidance application determines an accountstatus of the user with respect to an application. For example, themedia guidance application may access the user profile to determinewhether the user has a first level of access to the application (e.g.,free limited access) or second level of access to the application (e.g.,premium paid access). For example, the user profile may indicate thatthe user has access to a first set of media content using the firstlevel of access (e.g., free limited access that allows the user to watcha limited library of media content). In another example, the userprofile may indicate that the user has access to a second set of mediacontent that is larger than the first set using the second level ofaccess to the application (e.g., premium access that allows the user towatch the full library of media content provided by the application).

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the account statusindicates a first level of access to the application, the media guidanceapplication may generate a menu icon indicative of the user having thefirst level of access to the application. For example, the first menuicon may be generated with a particular color, having a particular size,having a static effect, or including a particular text, such that thesefeatures are indicative of the user having the first level of access tothe application. For example, the icon may have a muted color (e.g.,light blue), be smaller in size, have the text “free” or “limitedaccess,” or lack an animation effect to indicate that the user has thefirst level of access (e.g., free level of access) to the application.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetermining that the account status indicates a second level of accessto the application, generate a menu icon indicative of the user havingthe second level of access to the application. In some embodiments, themenu icon incentive of the user having a second level of access mayindicate that the user can access a second set of media content that islarger than the first set that can be accessed with the first level ofaccess. For example, the menu icon may be generated with a particularcolor, have a particular size, have a static effect, or include aparticular text, such that these features indicate that user has thesecond level of access to the application. For example, the icon mayhave a bright color (e.g., bright yellow), be larger in size, have thetext “premium” or “all-access,” or have an animation effect to indicatethat the user has the second level of access (e.g., premium levelaccess) to the application.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may maintain a userprofile, wherein the user profile includes, for a plurality ofapplications, a user account status indicative of the level of theuser's access to a respective application. For example, if the userdevice includes applications such as Netflix, Amazon Video or HBO Go,the media guidance application may maintain a user profile that includesuser account status for each of these applications. For example, theuser profile may include information that the user has an up-to-datepaid account with Netflix, a free level of access to Amazon Video, andtwo months of subscription time to HBO GO.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve, fromthe user profile, an account status of the user in relation to a firstapplication of the plurality of applications. For example, the mediaguidance application may, with respect to the Amazon Video application,retrieve the user's Amazon Video account status. For example, if theuser has free access only, the media guidance application may retrievethe “free access” status. In another example, if the user has premiumaccess (e.g., Prime account), the media guidance application mayretriever the “premium” (e.g., “Prime”) status.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine, fromthe account status of the user, a level of the user's access to thefirst application. For example, if the account status indicates “freeaccess” status to Amazon Video, the media guidance application maydetermine that the user only has first level of access (e.g., access tothe “free access” media content collection) from the Amazon Videoapplication. In another example, if the account status indicates a“premium” status to the Amazon Video application, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the user has a second level of access(e.g., access to the full “Prime” media content collection) from theAmazon Video application.

In some embodiments, the first level of access provides the user withaccess to a first set of media content (e.g., several free movies ormovie trailers only). In some embodiments, the second level of accessprovides access to a second set of media content that contains at leastone media content not contained by the first set. For example, thesecond set may contain full versions of the movies in addition to themovie trailers of the first set. In some embodiments, the first set maybe an empty set. That is, the first level of access may not allow theuser to access any media content. In some embodiments, the first levelof access may be indicative of the user having a free (e.g., unpaid)access to the application, while the second level of access may beindicative of the user having a paid (e.g., subscription-based) accessto the application.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may perform adifferent series of steps depending on the determined levels of access.In some embodiments, in response to determining that the user has afirst level of access, the media guidance application may generate amenu icon, wherein the appearance of the menu icon indicates that theuser has the first level of access to the first application. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate an icon for theAmazon Video application with a specific color (e.g., muted blue) thatis indicative of “free access” account status. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may then generate for display the menu iconon a user device. For example, the Amazon Video menu icon may begenerated for display on a TV screen among other icons representinglaunchable TV applications.

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the user has asecond level of access, the media guidance application may generate amenu icon, wherein the appearance of the menu icon indicates that theuser has the second level of access to the first application. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate an icon for AmazonVideo application to a specific color (e.g., bright yellow) that isindicative of “premium access” account status. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may then generate for display the menu iconon a user device. For example, the Amazon Video menu icon may begenerated for display on a TV screen among other icons representinglaunchable TV applications.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine, fromthe account status of the user, a time, wherein the time is an amount oftime left until a user's subscription to the first application expires.For example, the media guidance application may determine that the userhas purchased a premium subscription to an application at a certaintime. For example, the media guidance application may determine from theaccount status of the user that the user has purchased two-months ofAmazon Prime subscription on Jan. 2, 2015.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may then determinethe level of the user's access to the first application based on thetime. For example, the media guidance application may add the length ofsubscription to the date on which the subscription was purchased andcompare it to the current date. For example, the media guidanceapplication may add two months to the Jan. 2, 2015 date and compare theresulting date (Mar. 2, 2015) to the current date. In one example, ifthe current date is on or before Mar. 2, 2015, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the user has the second level of access(e.g., premium access) to the Amazon Video application. Also in thisexample, if the current date is after Mar. 2, 2015, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the user has the first level of access(e.g., free access) to the Amazon Video application.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate themenu icon to include an indication of the time left until a subscriptionto the first application for the user expires. For example, if the userhas purchased two-months of Amazon Prime subscription on Jan. 2, 2015,the media guidance application may add two months to the Jan. 2, 2015date and subtract the current date from the resulting date (Mar. 2,2015). For example, if the current date is Mar. 1, 2015, the mediaguidance application may calculate that two days are left until thesubscription expires.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may change theappearance of the menu icon to include an indication of the remainingtime. For example, the media guidance application may modify the icon toinclude the text “2 days of premium subscription left!” or “Expires in 2days.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may change theappearance of the menu icon to indicate that the user has the firstlevel of access to the first application by changing the appearance ofthe menu icon to include a first color. For example, the media guidanceapplication may change the background color, filler color, or bordercolor of the menu icon to be of particular color (e.g., muted blue.) Insome embodiments, the color may be preselected, dynamically generated,or selected via a user prompt.

In some embodiments, changing the appearance of the menu icon toindicate that the user has the second level of access to the firstapplication may include changing the appearance of the menu icon toinclude a second color different from the first color. For example, themedia guidance application may change the background color, fillercolor, or border color of the menu icon to be particular color (e.g.,bright yellow). For example, the media guidance application may changethe background color, filler color, or border color of the menu icon tobe particular color (e.g., muted blue). In some embodiments, the colormay be preselected, dynamically generated, or selected via a userprompt.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, when theappearance of the menu icon indicates that the user has the first levelof access to the first application, set the size of the menu icon to afirst size. For example, the media guidance application may change thesize of the menu icon to be smaller by 25%. In some embodiments, thesize reduction may be preselected, dynamically generated, or selectedvia a user prompt.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, when theappearance of the menu icon indicates that the user has the second levelof access to the first application, set the size of the menu icon to asecond size, different from the first size. For example, the mediaguidance application may change the size of the menu icon to be largerby 25%. In some embodiments, the size increase may be preselected,dynamically generated, or selected via a user prompt.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, when theappearance of the menu icon indicates that the user has the first levelof access to the first application, set the appearance of the menu iconto be static. For example, the media guidance application may create astatic, unchanging menu icon.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, when theappearance of the menu icon indicates that the user has the second levelof access to the first application, modify the appearance of the menuicon to include an animation. For example, the media guidanceapplication may create an animated menu icon, with flashing elements,dynamically changing colors, moving shapes, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, when theappearance of the menu icon indicates that the user has the first levelof access to the first application, change the appearance of the menuicon to include a first text. For example, the media guidanceapplication may modify the menu icon to include the text “freesubscription.” In some embodiments, the text may be preselected,dynamically generated, or selected via a user prompt.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, when theappearance of the menu icon indicates that the user has the second levelof access to the first application, change the appearance of the menuicon to include a second text different from the first text. Forexample, the media guidance application may modify the menu icon toinclude the text “premium subscription.” In some embodiments, the textmay be preselected, dynamically generated, or selected via a userprompt.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, when theappearance of the menu icon indicates that the user has the first levelof access to the first application, change the appearance of the menuicon to include an indication that the user has access to the first setof media content. For example, the media guidance application may modifythe menu icon to include the text “trailers only.” In some embodiments,the text may be preselected, dynamically generated, or selected via auser prompt.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, when theappearance of the menu icon indicates that the user has the second levelof access to the first application, change the appearance of the menuicon to include an indication that the user has access to the second setof media content. For example, the media guidance application may modifythe menu icon to include the text “all-access!” In some embodiments, thetext may be preselected, dynamically generated, or selected via a userprompt.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetermining that the account status indicates the first level of accessto the application, generate a menu icon that includes an upgrade input.For example, the menu icon may include a sub-icon with text “click toupgrade now!” In some embodiments, the media guidance application may,in response to detecting a user interaction with the upgrade input,adjust the menu icon such that the appearance of the menu icon indicatesthat the user has the second level of access to the first application.For example, if the user presses the “click to upgrade now!” sub-icon,the media guidance application may immediately modify the menu icon toindicate that the user has the second level of access to the firstapplication. For example, the media guidance application may remove thesub-icon and modify the color of the menu icon.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detectfunctionality of a remote controller that is communicatively connectedwith a user equipment device. For example, the media guidanceapplication may wirelessly receive the description of functionality of aremote controller directly the remote controller itself. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may receive an input fromthe user identifying the model of the remote controller. For example,the media guidance application may then query the functionality of aremote controller from a remote server based on the model of the remotecontroller.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine alabel and functionality of each input on the remote controller. Forexample, the media guidance application may look up this functionalityin the functionality of the remote controller. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the remote controller has asingle-click button labeled “power” and a circular touch-pad labeled“red.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select a userinterface with at least one user interface element that matches thelabel and functionality of at least one input of the remote controller.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select a userinterface from a plurality of possible user interfaces based on matchinga user-interface element to an input of the remote controller. Forexample, the media guidance application may select a user interface thathas a circular volume control element labeled “red.” In someembodiments, the media guidance application may select the userinterface such that each interface element of that user interfacematches the label and functionality of at least one input of the remotecontroller.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may then display theselected user interface on the user equipment. For example, the mediaguidance application may display the user interface on the user's TVscreen, tablet, smart phone, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect a remotecontroller that is capable of interacting with a user interface on auser equipment that is remote from the remote controller. For example,the media guidance application may do so upon initial set-up of the userequipment, or when a user acquires a new remote controller. In someembodiments, the remote controller includes a plurality of inputs, suchas buttons, scroll wheels, touch pads, microphones, other inputelements, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinecharacteristics of the remote controller. For example, the mediaguidance application may access a table that describes a label and inputtype for each input of the remote controller. Such table may be provideddirectly by the remote controller. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may acquire the table from a remote server based ona description. In some embodiments, the characteristics may include adescription of every input of the plurality of inputs, wherein thedescription of each input comprises a type of input and a label of theinput. In some embodiments, the remote controller is a physicallyseparate device from the user equipment. For example, user equipment mayinclude a TV screen, while a remote controller may be a separatebattery-operated electronic device.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select, based onthe characteristics of the remote controller, an optimal user interfaceto display on the user equipment. For example, the media guidanceapplication may select the optimal user interface among pre-storedtemplate user interfaces. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may also dynamically generate the optimal user interface.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select theoptimal user interface by performing a series of steps. The series ofsteps may include storing a plurality of template user interfaces, eachtemplate user interface comprising a plurality of user interfaceelements, wherein each interface element comprises a label and afunctionality type. For example, several interface templates may bestored locally by the media guidance application. Each template userinterface may include a layout of user interface elements, such asbuttons, circular dials, scroll wheels, voice input areas, or anycombination thereof. In addition, each interface element may include alabel and a functionality type. For example, one user element may be abutton labeled “Enter.” Another interface element may be a circular diallabeled “Red.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select atemplate user interface of the plurality of template user interfacessuch that at least one interface element of that template user interfacecorresponds to a description of at least one input of the remotecontroller. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationconsiders an interface element to corresponds to the description of theinput when the label of the interface element matches the label of theinput, and the type of the input is compatible with the functionalitytype of the interface element. For example, a button labeled “power” onthe remote controller may be considered to correspond to a button userinterface element with a label “power.” In another example, a circulartouchpad labeled “red” on the remote controller may be considered tocorrespond to a circular dial interface element with a label “red.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select atemplate user interface of the plurality of template user interfacessuch that each interface element of that template user interfacecorresponds to a description of at least one input of the remotecontroller. For example, if the template user interface has five userinterface elements such that each one of them corresponds to at leastone input of the remote controller, this template user interface may beselected as the optimal user interface.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may then display theselected optimal user interface on the user equipment. For example, themedia guidance application may display the selected optimal userinterface on the user's TV screen, tablet, smart phone, or anycombination thereof.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinecharacteristics of the remote controller by receiving a remotecontroller identifier from the remote controller. For example, theremote controller may periodically, or on request, send itsidentification number via an IR channel or via Wi-Fi. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may then transmit theidentifier to a remote server. For example, the request may betransmitted to a media application guidance data server. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may then receivecharacteristics of the remote controller from the remote server. Forexample, the server may look up the characteristics based on theidentifier, and forward them to the media guidance application.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatnone of the stored plurality of template user interfaces can beselected. For example, every template user interface of the storedplurality of template user interfaces may have interface elements thatcannot be matched with at least one input of the remote controller. Forexample, all template user interfaces may have a button labeled “menu,”while the user remote has no button labeled “menu.” In some embodiments,in response to such a determination, the media guidance application maygenerate a new template user interface based on the characteristics ofthe remote controller.

For example, the media guidance application may select a base templateuser interface from the plurality of template user interfaces. Forexample, the media guidance application may select a template userinterface that has the most user interface elements which match at leastone input of the remote controller. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may then modify the base template user interfacesuch that each interface element of that modified template userinterface corresponds to a description of at least one input of theremote controller. For example, if the base template user interface hada button labeled “menu,” while the user interface did not have a buttonlabeled “menu” but had a button labeled “red,” the media guidanceapplication may modify the user interface such that a button labeled“menu” is modified to be a button labeled “red.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may optionallyre-label at least one interface element, remove at least one interfaceelement, or modify the functionality of at least one interface element.For example, the media guidance application may completely remove the“menu” button from the base template user interface. In someembodiments, if the template user interface had a circular dial labeledvolume, while the user interface only has two buttons labeled “volumedown” and “volume up,” the media guidance application may modify thecircular dial to two buttons labeled “volume down” and “volume up.” Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may store the newmodified template user interface another of the plurality of templateuser interfaces.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthe remote controller has more inputs than the number of user interfaceelements of the selected optimal user interface. For example, the remotecontroller may have a specialized button labeled “Netflix” for directlylaunching the Netflix application, while none of the template userinterfaces has such an interface element. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may in response to such determination, modify theselected optimal user interface based on the characteristics of theremote controller.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may do at least oneof: add at least one new user interface element to the optimal userinterface template or add a label to a blank user interface element tothe optimal user interface template. For example, the media guidanceapplication may add the a “open Netflix” button to the selected optimalinterface. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may storea new modified optimal user interface as a part of the plurality oftemplate user interfaces.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide a seriesto a user device. For example, the media guidance application mayprovide several episodes of the series to the user's TV system. Forexample, each episode may be provided to the user device in response toan explicit user request. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may automatically provide several episodes of the series insuccession. In some embodiments, the series may comprise a plurality ofsequential seasons, each season comprising a plurality of sequentialepisodes.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive arequest for recording the series. For example, a user may interact witha “record series” button. In response, the media guidance applicationmay perform a series of steps described below.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may identify thelast episode of the series watched by the user. For example, the mediaguidance application may examine what episode of the series the user hascurrently selected in a menu. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may deem that that episode to be the last episode of theseries watched by the user. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may maintain a list of all episodes watched by the user, anddetermine that the latest episode on that list is the last episode ofthe series watched by the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine arelevant season of the plurality of seasons that precedes another seasonof the plurality of seasons and that includes the last episode watchedby the user. For example, if the user has last watched episode 3, season4 of a series that has six seasons, the media guidance application maydetermine that season 3 is the relevant season.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may schedule forrecording episodes of the relevant season that follow the last episodewatched by the user such that episodes of a season that precedes therelevant season are not scheduled for recording. For example, if theuser has last watched episode 3, season 4 of a series that has sixseasons, the media guidance application may schedule for recording allepisodes of season 4 that follow episode 3, such that all episodes ofseason 1 and 2 are not scheduled for recording. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may also not schedule for recording anyepisodes of seasons that follow the relevant season. For example, themedia guidance application may not schedule for recording all episodesof seasons 4, 5 and 6.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide a seriesto a user device. For example, the media guidance application mayprovide several episodes of the series to the user's TV system. Forexample, each episode may be provided to the user device in response toan explicit user request. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may automatically provide several episodes of the series insuccession. In some embodiments, the series may comprise a plurality ofsequential seasons, each season comprising a plurality of sequentialepisodes. For example, the series “Game of Thrones” may comprise sixsequential seasons each with 10 sequential episodes.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may maintain aseries progress indictor that identifies last episode of the serieswatched by the user. For example, the media guidance application maytrack what was the latest (e.g., last in the sequence of sequentialepisodes) watched by the user. For example, if the user watched episode3 of the fourth season of “Game of Thrones” (but has not watched anysubsequent episodes), the media guidance application may set theindicator series progress indicator for that show to “season 4, episode3.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive arequest for recording the series. For example, the user may click the“record season” button. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may then perform a series of steps in response to such arequest as described below.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine therelevant season of the plurality of seasons that precedes another seasonof the plurality of seasons and that includes the episode identified bythe series progress indicator. For example, if the series progressindicator is set to “season 4, episode 3,” (and the series has more thanfour seasons), the media guidance application may determine the fourthseason to be the “relevant season.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may monitor abroadcast schedule to identify a plurality of available episodes of theseries. For example, the media guidance application may receive thebroadcast schedule for next two weeks and find if any episodes of theseries are scheduled for broadcast (e.g., by matching the title of theseries with metadata of the broadcast schedule). For example, if thebroadcast data includes a schedule transmission of season 4, episodes1-9, and season 5, episodes 1-5 of the series, the media guidanceapplication may identify those episodes as available. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may also access a userprofile to determine if the user has a subscription that allows forrecording of a plurality of available episodes of the series. Forexample, if the series is scheduled to be broadcast on HBO, the mediaguidance application may check whether the user has HBO subscription.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, for eachparticular episode of the plurality of available episodes of the series,determine that the particular episode belongs to the relevant season andfollows the episode identified by the series progress indicator. Forexample, if the relevant season is “season 3,” the media guidanceapplication may determine whether the particular episode belongs toseason 3. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may thenschedule the particular episode to be recorded if it belongs to therelevant season and follows the episode identified by the seriesprogress indicator. For example, if the series progress indicator is setto “season 4, episode 3,” episodes 4-9 of season 4 will be scheduled tobe recorded. In some embodiments, the media guidance application willschedule the recordings such that episodes of a season that precedes thegiven relevant season are not scheduled for recording. For example,episodes of the series belonging to seasons 1-3 will not be recorded ifseason 4 is the relevant season. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication will schedule the recordings such that episodes of a seasonthat follows the given relevant season are not scheduled for recording.For example, episodes of the series belonging to seasons 5-6 will not berecorded if season 4 is the relevant season.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may maintain theseries progress indicator by monitoring which episode of the series isselected on a menu by the user. For example, if the user has selected acertain episode from the menu, the series progress indicator may be setto that episode.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may maintain a listof episodes of the series that were watched by the user. For example,the media guidance application may maintain a data structure thatpermanently identifies every episode of the series watched by the user.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine whichepisode of the episodes of the series that were watched by the user isthe latest in the series. For example, if the data structure includesepisodes 1-8 of season 1 of the series, the media guidance applicationmay set the series progress indicator to season 1, episode 8.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetermining that all episodes of the relevant season that follow theepisode identified by the series progress indicator are recorded,provide a completion notification to the user. For example, if theseries progress indicator was set to season 3, episode 4 (and season has9 episodes), the media guidance application may provide a completionnotification when all of season 3 episodes 5-9 are recorded.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatat least one episode of the relevant series that follows the episodeidentified by the series progress indicator is not available forrecording. For example, if the series progress indicator was set toseason 3, episode 4 (and season has 9 episodes), the media guidanceapplication may determine that season 3 episode 5 is not scheduled forbroadcast.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may then determinethat the at least one episode of the relevant series is available forover-the-top (OTT) streaming. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that season 3, episode 5 is available viaNetflix (or via any other OTT service). In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may then provide a notification to the user, thenotification comprising a hyperlink for streaming the at least oneepisode of the relevant series via the at least one OTT streamingservice. For example, the media guidance application may provide ahyperlink to watch season 3 episode 5 on Netflix. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may also access a user profile todetermine if the user has a subscription to the at least one OTTstreaming service before providing the hyperlink. For example, the mediaguidance application may check whether the user has a Netflixsubscription.

In some embodiments, the request to record a series may comprise a userselecting an option to record the relevant season from a list ofpossible options. For example, options may include “relevant season,”“current season” and “all seasons.” In some embodiments, the user maymake that selection using a radio-selection user interface element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The below and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE) device,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative embodiment of an applications menu shown ona display screen, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative embodiment of another applications menushown on a display screen, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative embodiment of yet another applications menushown on a display screen, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flow diagram for a process of generatinga menu icon indicative of the user's level of access, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 depicts another illustrative flow diagram for a process ofgenerating a menu icon indicative of the user's level of access, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative flow diagram for a process of changingthe appearance of a menu icon, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 11 depicts another illustrative flow diagram for a process ofchanging the appearance of a menu icon, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 12 depicts yet another illustrative flow diagram for a process ofchanging the appearance of a menu icon, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 13 shows an illustrative embodiment of a user interface chosenbased on the functionality of the remote controller, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 14 shows an illustrative embodiment of a user interface chosenbased on the functionality of the remote controller, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 15 depicts an illustrative flow diagram for a process of selectinga user interface, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 16 depicts another illustrative flow diagram for a process ofselecting a user interface, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 17 depicts an illustrative flow diagram for a process of detectinga remote controller, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 18 depicts an illustrative flow diagram for a process of receivinga characteristic of a remote controller, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 19 depicts an illustrative flow diagram for a process of storing anew template user interface, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 20 depicts another illustrative flow diagram for a process ofstoring a new template user interface, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 21 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 22 depicts an illustrative flow diagram for a process of schedulinga season recording, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 23 depicts another illustrative flow diagram for a process ofscheduling a season recording, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 24 depicts an illustrative embodiment of generating a playlist ofcontent based on a first user and a second user, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 25 depicts an illustrative embodiment for retrieving past viewedcontent based on a stickiness key, in accordance with some embodimentsof the disclosure;

FIG. 26 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a home menu shown on adisplay screen, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 27 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an applications menu shownon a display screen, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 28 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a watch list menu shown ona display screen, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 29 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an applications menu shownon a guide screen, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure; and

FIG. 30 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a tuners menu shown on adisplay screen, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may modify an icon(e.g., a launch icon) of an application to indicate a status of anapplication to a user. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine an account status of the user with respect to an application.For example, the media guidance application may determine if the userhas a first level of access or a second level access (e.g., a level ofaccess that allows the user to access at least one more media contentitems than would be allowed by the first level of access) to theapplication. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maythen generate a menu icon for the application that is indicative of thefirst or second level of access to allow the user to easily know whatlevel of he has.

Different media systems often contain different hardware, includingdifferent remote controllers. Some of these controllers contain morefunctionalities (e.g., have more inputs, abilities to take voicecommands, etc.) than others. There exists a need to modify the menu ofthe media guidance application to provide a more efficient userinterface that increases usability for the user based on the determinedfunctionality of the remote controller used by the user's media system.Accordingly, the media guidance application may detect a functionalityof remote controller that is separate and remote from the equipment itcontrols. The media guidance application may then select a userinterface such that all user interface elements of that interface matchat least one of the inputs of the controller (e.g., have a similar labeland compatible functionality). The media guidance application may thendisplay the selected user interface on the user equipment that iscontrolled by the remote controller. In this way, the user interface isguaranteed not have elements that are useless or confusing, thusimproving the functionality of the user equipment.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive an inputfrom the user to record a season of a TV show. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may also receive an indication that the useris only interested in recording the season of the series that iscurrently relevant to the user. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the user is interested in recording aseason that is currently being watched by the user. For example, if theuser has most recently watched season 3, episode 4 of the “Game ofThrones” series, the media guidance application may determine thatseason 3 is the relevant season, even if there are seasons that comeafter season 3. For example, seasons 1-6 may be available, yet the mediaguidance application may determine that only season 3 is currentlyrelevant. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may thenschedule for recording only the episodes of the currently relevantseason. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may thenschedule for recording only the episodes of the currently relevantseason that follow the most recently watched episode.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 1-2 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 100arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 104, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 106, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 102 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 108, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 110. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 110 may be provided inprogram information region 112. Region 112 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g., FTP).

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 114, recorded content listing 116, andInternet content listing 118. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 100 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 102. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, and options region 126.Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 122 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 102. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applicationsthe user accesses, from other interactive applications the useraccesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/orobtain information about the user from other sources that the mediaguidance application may access. As a result, a user can be providedwith a unified guidance application experience across the user'sdifferent user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 4. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 200, television listings option 204 isselected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 200 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 208 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 214 and text portion 216.Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4.User equipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includesprocessing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (andspecifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above-mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 308 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 4, may be used to supplementstorage 308 or instead of storage 308.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user inputinterface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 312 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300. For example, display 312 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 310may be integrated with or combined with display 312. Display 312 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 312 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 312.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry304. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 304.Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played throughspeakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers314.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 308 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 310. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 310 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 300. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 304) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 300. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 300.Equipment device 300 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 310 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 300 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 310.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 300 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or awireless user communications device 406. For example, user televisionequipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 404 may, like some television equipment 402, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 404, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 406.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communicationsdevice 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.Tivo.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is awireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidancedata source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 withuser equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as throughcommunications network 414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

System 400 may also include an advertisement source 424 coupled tocommunications network 414 via a communications path 426. Path 426 mayinclude any of the communication paths described above in connectionwith paths 408, 410, and 412. Advertisement source 424 may includeadvertisement logic to determine which advertisements to transmit tospecific users and under which circumstances. For example, a cableoperator may have the right to insert advertisements during specifictime slots on specific channels. Thus, advertisement source 424 maytransmit advertisements to users during those time slots. As anotherexample, advertisement source may target advertisements based on thedemographics of users known to view a particular show (e.g., teenagersviewing a reality show). As yet another example, advertisement sourcemay provide different advertisements depending on the location of theuser equipment viewing a media asset (e.g., east coast or west coast).

In some embodiments, advertisement source 424 may be configured tomaintain user information including advertisement-suitability scoresassociated with user in order to provide targeted advertising.Additionally or alternatively, a server associated with advertisementsource 424 may be configured to store raw information that may be usedto derive advertisement-suitability scores. In some embodiments,advertisement source 424 may transmit a request to another device forthe raw information and calculate the advertisement-suitability scores.Advertisement source 424 may update advertisement-suitability scores forspecific users (e.g., first subset, second subset, or third subset ofusers) and transmit an advertisement of the target product toappropriate users.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 416 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 mayprovide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, and executedby control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 418), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 414.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 402 and user computer equipment 404may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 414. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 416 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 418. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wirelessuser communications device 406. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 404 or wireless usercommunications device 406 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 404. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 414. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3.

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may periodically, orcontinuously, check the database in the user profile to determine if anyuser account information associated with applications has been updated,added to, or deleted. The media guidance application may periodically,or continuously, refresh the menu of applications to reflect the currentstatus of all applications.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may establishdifferent cues that distinguish between the level of account that theuser has for an application. For example, the media guidance applicationmay have three distinct cues that represent three levels of accounts(e.g., no account, an account with no paid subscription to content, andan account with a paid subscription to content). These distinct cues maybe used to help the user identify the current status of all theapplications displayed on the screen of the user equipment.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that auser has selected (e.g., navigated to and selected via a remote or avoice command) and opened an application. The media guidance applicationmay determine that the user has input their account information into theapplication (e.g., by logging in via a login screen). The media guidanceapplication may store this account information associated with theopened application in the database in the user profile.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate aprompt for the user asking the user to input account information for thecurrently installed applications, when applicable. The media guidanceapplication may generate the prompt when initializing the user'ssettings and profile. The media guidance application may also generatethe prompt when the user navigates to a sub menu (e.g., a settings menu)from the main menu.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthe cues are visual. The media guidance application may determine that ahighlight box is created around all the applications where the user hasan account.

As defined herein, “level of access” to an application refers to anykind of data or a rule that defines the user's ability to accessdifferent tiers of service provided by that application. For example,with regard to an exemplary application, the user may have the highestlevel of subscription, a medium level of subscription, or nosubscription or account associated with an application. The highestlevel of subscription may be a paid subscription, a paid subscription topremium content (e.g., a monthly paid subscription to HBO Now, Netflix,etc.), or any subscription that includes access to content in anapplication. The medium level of subscription may be a paid subscription(e.g., a paid subscription in a lower tier than the highest level ofsubscription), or a free subscription (e.g., a free account with themusic streaming application Spotify, that makes the user listen toadvertisements every set amount of songs). The medium level ofsubscription may not allow the user to access all of the contentavailable on the corresponding application; some content (e.g., at leastone media content item) may be restricted and/or require a higher levelof subscription.

As defined herein, “account status” refers to any kind of data thatdefines the user's level of access to an application. In someembodiments, the account status may be a locally stored filed thatdefines the user's level of access to an application. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve the accountstatus by retrieving, from a database in the user profile, user accountinformation for the application. In the event the search does not returna result, the media guidance application may determine that the userdoes not have an account with the corresponding application.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative embodiment of an applications menu shown ona display screen, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.FIG. 5 shows display 500 of user equipment. Display 500 may include“APPS” menu 502. Display 500 may include an application overlay bar 504that shows the different application filter options (e.g., the userselecting one of these options would filter the application based on theapplication type (e.g., favorites, sports, kids, videos, etc.)). Display500 may include a plurality of menu icons (e.g., a Netflix icon, HBO GOicon, Amazon icon etc.) In some embodiments, at least one icon (e.g.,Netflix icon) can include visual cue 506. For example, visual cue 506may highlight the border of the application icon in a first color. Insome embodiments, at least one icon (e.g., Spotify icon) can include adifferent visual cue 508. For example, visual cue 508 may highlight theborder of the application (e.g., Spotify) in a second color. In someembodiments, at least one application icon 510 (e.g., Bravo Now launchicon) may not have a visual cue associated with it.

For example, the media guidance application may generate visual cue 506(e.g., a green highlight box) around each application icon that isassociated with an application where the user has a paid subscriptionaccount. As another example, the media guidance application may generatevisual cue 508 (e.g., a red highlight box) around all application iconsassociated with applications where the user has a free account. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may generate no cue forapplication icons 510 associated with applications where the user doesnot have an account.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may filter theapplications based on the status of the application (e.g., filter basedon subscribed to and/or premium applications), to indicate whichapplications are not free. The filter may be selected by the user, e.g.,by using application overlay bar 504.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may filter theapplications based on the status of the application in relation to afree trial (e.g., for applications that require paid subscriptions). Forexample, the media guidance application may filter the applicationsbased on applications that still have a free trial period available forthe user (e.g., determined based on information in the user profile).

FIG. 6 shows display 600 of user equipment. Display 600 may include“APPS” menu 602. Display 600 may include application overlay bar 604that shows different application filter options (e.g., the userselecting one of these options would filter the application based on theapplication type (e.g., favorites, sports, kids, videos, etc)). Display600 may include a visual cue 606 that highlights the border of anapplication icon (e.g., Netflix) in color one. Display 600 may alsoinclude a visual cue 608 that highlights the border of anotherapplication icon (e.g., Spotify) in color two. Display 600 may alsoinclude a visual cue 610 that highlights the border of an applicationicon (e.g., Hulu) in color three. Display 600 may also include anapplication icon 612 (e.g., Bravo Now) that does not have a visual cueassociated with it.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may establishdifferent cues that indicate how much time the user has left before theuser's paid subscription to an application expires. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve this information from the database that storesuser account and subscription information. For example, the mediaguidance application may retrieve a preset (e.g., by an editor) set ofthresholds from the user profile, which may be adjustable upon userinput. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve the setof thresholds, each of which corresponds to a cue (e.g., 30+ days whichcorresponds to green, 7+ days which corresponds to yellow, and expiredwhich corresponds to red). The media guidance application may comparethe time that the user has left before the user's paid subscription toan application expires for each application the user has a subscriptionto the set of thresholds, to assign a cue to each application. The mediaguidance application may then generate and display said cue for eachapplication on the user equipment.

For example, the media guidance application may determine, using themethods described above, that the user's paid subscription to theapplication associated with an icon does not expire for at least 30days, and thus generate cue 606 that highlights the icon in green. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that theuser's paid subscription to application does not expire for at least 7days, and thus generate cue 608 that highlights the icon ib yellow. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that theuser's paid subscription to the application has already expired, andthus generate cue 610 that highlights the icon in red. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may not highlightapplication icon 612 in any color after determining the user does nothave any subscription or account associated with an applicationassociated with that icon.

In some embodiments, the size of the application as it appears on thedisplay may be modified by the media guidance application to show adifference between paid and unpaid subscriptions associated withapplications, as well as no account/subscription for applications. Themodification may help the user easily identify which applications may bemore desirable for the user to access (e.g., applications with paidsubscriptions may be more desirable than applications with nosubscriptions/accounts).

FIG. 7 shows display 700 of user equipment 700. Display 700 may include“APPS” menu 700. Display 700 may include application overlay bar 700that shows the different application filter options (e.g., the userselecting one of these options would filter the application based on theapplication type (e.g., favorites, sports, kids, videos, etc.) Display700 may include a visual cue 706 that enlarges the size of anapplication icon (e.g., Netflix) to a first size. Display 700 may alsoinclude a visual cue 708 that enlarges the size of an application icon(e.g., Spotify) to a second size. Display 700 may include a visual cuethat shrinks the size of an application icon (e.g., Hulu) to a thirdsize. For example, the media guidance application may modify all iconsassociated with applications to which the user has paid subscriptionapplications to enlarge their sizes to a first size. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may modify all iconsassociated with applications to which the user has an unpaidsubscription to enlarge their sizes to a second size, where the firstsize is larger than the second size. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may modify all icons associated with applicationswhere the user does not have a subscription to the applications toshrink the size to a third size, where the third size is smaller thanthe first and second sizes.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may create visualcues based on application size (e.g., make the application where theuser has an account with bigger and more prominently displayed than theapplications where the user does not have an account); opaqueness (e.g.,fade out the applications where the user does not have an account),order (order the applications where the user has accounts (e.g., frompaid, to unpaid, to none); manipulation of the size of the applications(e.g., making the applications where the user has accounts with “bounce”on the screen by repetitively making the application icon size smallerand larger in a short period of time), and any other similar visual cue.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide hapticfeedback as a cue. For example, the media guidance application may use asensor (e.g., a piezoelectric sensor) contained inside the remotecontroller to create a vibration in the remote control when the usernavigates to an application that the user has an account for. Once theuser navigates to an application and stays on the application for athreshold amount of time (e.g., a threshold amount of time that is foundin the user profile and preset by an editor), the media guidanceapplication may generate a vibration. The media guidance application maydetermine that the length of vibration, force of the vibration, andother characteristics of the vibration are dependent on the status ofthe application. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate vibrations in three different time lengths (e.g., a longtime-length vibration to indicate that the user has a paid subscriptionto the selected application, a medium time-length vibration to indicatethat the user has an unpaid subscription to the selected application,and a short or no vibration to indicate that the user does not have asubscription or account to the selected application). The media guidanceapplication may determine not to create a vibration using the sensorwhen the user navigates to an application where the user does not havean account.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide audiofeedback as a cue. The media guidance application may play differenttones or phrases based on the status of the application. For example,the media guidance application may generate a low, medium, and highfrequency tone associated with no account, an unpaid account, and a paidaccount immediately after the user navigates to an application. Asanother example, the media guidance application may play back a phrase(e.g., the phrase “none” etc.) immediately after the user navigates toan application that the user does not have an account with. The mediaguidance application may play back a phrase (e.g., the phrase “free”etc.) immediately after the user navigates to an application where theuser has an unpaid subscription account. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may play back a phrase (e.g., the phrase “paid” or“premium” etc.) immediately after the user navigates to an applicationthat the user has a paid subscription with.

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flow diagram of a process 800 forgenerating a menu icon indicative of the user's level of access, inaccordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. Process 800 may beexecuted by control circuitry 304 (e.g., in a manner instructed tocontrol circuitry 304 by the media guidance application). Controlcircuitry 304 may be a part of user equipment (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and/or wirelesscommunications device 406), or of a remote server separated from theuser equipment by way of communications network 414.

Process 800 begins at 802, where control circuitry 304 determines anaccount status of the user with respect to an application. For example,control circuitry 304 may determine an account status of the user withrespect to an application associated with a Netflix icon (e.g., Netflix)of FIG. 5. For example, control circuitry 304 may query local storage308 to receive a file that stores account status for all applicationsinstalled on user television equipment 402 or user computer equipment404. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may retrieve accountstatus from a remote server (e.g., media guidance data source 418).

Process 800 continues at 804, where control circuitry 804 determineswhat level of access to the application (e.g., Netflix) the user has.For example, control circuitry 304 may determine whether the user hasthe first level of access or the second level of access. In someembodiments, when the user has the first level of access to theapplication, the user may be able to access a first set of media contentitems using the application. For example, the first level of access maybe a free subscription to the application. In some embodiments, the freesubscription may allow the user to watch several movie previews and/orseveral free promotions of media content items (e.g., movies or TVshows). In some embodiments, when the user has the second level ofaccess to the application, the user may be able to access a second setof media content items using the application. The second set of mediacontent items may contain at least one more media content item than thefirst set. For example, the second level of access may be a paidsubscription to the application. In some embodiments, the paidsubscription may allow the user to watch many premium movies and TVshows in addition to movie previews and/or several free promotions ofmedia content items (e.g., movies or TV shows).

In some embodiments, when control circuitry 304 determines that the userhas the first level of access to the application, process 800 maycontinue at 806. In some embodiments, when control circuitry 304determines that the user has the second level of access to theapplication, process 800 may continue at 808.

At 806, control circuitry 304 may generate a menu icon (e.g., Netflixicon of FIG. 5) indicative of the user having the first level of accessto the application. For example, the menu icon may be generated toinclude a first color indicative of the first level of access. Inanother example, the menu icon may be generated to be of a first size,indicative of the first level of access.

At 808, control circuitry 304 may generate a menu icon (e.g., Netflixicon of FIG. 5) indicative of the user having the second level of accessto the application. For example, the menu icon may be generated toinclude a second color indicative of the second level of access. Inanother example, the menu icon may be generated to be of a second size,indicative of the second level of access.

FIG. 9 depicts another illustrative flow diagram of a process 900 forgenerating a menu icon indicative of the user's level of access, inaccordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. Process 900 may beexecuted by control circuitry 304 (e.g., in a manner instructed tocontrol circuitry 304 by the media guidance application). Controlcircuitry 304 may be a part of user equipment (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and/or wirelesscommunications device 406), or of a remote server separated from theuser equipment by way of communications network 414.

Process 900 begins at 902, where control circuitry 304 may maintain auser profile. In some embodiments, the user profile may include, for aplurality of applications, a user account status indicative of the levelof the user's access to a respective application. For example, the userprofile may be in a database that includes the status of eachapplication (e.g., Netflix, Spotify, etc.) installed by the user. Insome embodiments, whenever a user purchases a subscription, or asubscription lapses, control circuitry 304 may modify the user profileto reflect this change. For example, if the user purchases a paidsubscription to Spotify, control circuitry 304 may modify the databaseentry associated with Spotify to reflect that that user has paidsubscription access. In some embodiments, when the user's Spotifysubscription expires, control circuitry 304 may modify the databaseentry associated with Spotify to reflect that that user has nosubscription access.

Process 900 continues at 904, where control circuitry 304 may retrieve,from the user profile, an account status of the user in relation to afirst application (e.g., Netflix application of FIG. 5) of the pluralityof applications (e.g., applications of FIG. 5). In some embodiments,control circuitry 304 may perform step 904 periodically oraperiodically. For example, control circuitry 304 may perform step 904every time an applications menu (e.g., APPs menu 504 of FIG. 5) isopened. In another example, control circuitry 304 may perform step 904every 30 minutes or every other period of time.

Process 900 continues at 906, where control circuitry 304 may determine,from the account status of the user, a level of the user's access to thefirst application. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine theuser's level of access to a particular application (e.g., Netflix) ofall applications installed on user's television equipment 402. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may determine if the user has the firstlevel (e.g., free subscription) of access to the application or if theuser has a second level of access (e.g., paid subscription) to theapplication. In some embodiments, there may be any number of levels ofaccess to the application. In some embodiments, when the user has thefirst level of access to the application, the user can, via thatapplication, access a first set of media content items (e.g., watchmovie previews on Netflix). In some embodiments, when the user has thesecond level of access to the application, the user can, via thatapplication, access a second set of media content items that includes atleast one more media content item than the first set (e.g., watch moviesand tv shows in addition to previews on Netflix).

Process 900 continues at 908, where control circuitry 304 may takedifferent paths depending on what level of access the account statusindicates for the application. In some embodiments, if the accountstatus indicates the first level of access, process 900 may continue to910. In some embodiments, if the account status indicates the secondlevel of access, process 900 may continue to 914.

At 910, control circuitry 304 may generate a menu icon, wherein theappearance of the menu icon indicates that the user has the first levelof access to the first application. For example, control circuitry 304may generate an icon to include a first color (e.g., dull blue) toindicate that the user has a first level of access to the firstapplication. In another example, control circuitry 304 may generate anicon to be of a first size to indicate that the user has a first levelof access to the first application.

At 912, control circuitry 304 may generate for display the menu icon ona user device. For example, control circuitry 304 may display the menuicon on display 500 of FIG. 5.

At 914, control circuitry 304 may generate a menu icon, wherein theappearance of the menu icon indicates that the user has the second levelof access to the first application. For example, control circuitry 304may generate an icon to include a second color (e.g., bright yellow) toindicate that the user has the second level of access to the firstapplication. In another example, control circuitry 304 may generate anicon to be of a second size (e.g., larger than the first size) toindicate that the user has the first level of access to the firstapplication.

At 916, control circuitry 304 may generate for display the menu icon ona user device. For example, control circuitry 304 may display the menuicon on display 500 of FIG. 5.

Process 900 continues at 918, where control circuitry 304 may, inresponse to receiving an indication of a user interaction with the menuicon, launch the first application. For example, control circuitry 304may listen for user input via user input interface 310. For example, theuser may click on the menu icon using a TV remote controller, a touchscreen interface, or a computer mouse. Once the user clicks on the menuicon, control circuitry 304 may launch the associated application.

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative flow diagram for a process of changingthe appearance of a menu icon, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure. Process 1000 may be executed by control circuitry 304,for example, in a manner instructed to control circuitry 304 by themedia guidance application. In some embodiments, process 1000 isexecuted as a part of block 906.

Process 1000 begins at 1002, wherein control circuitry 304 determines,from the account status of the user, a time, wherein the time is anamount of time left until a subscription to the first application forthe user expires. For example, if the user has purchased a paidsubscription to Netflix on Nov. 20, 2017, and 10 days elapsed since,control circuitry 304 may determine that 20 days are left on the paidsubscription.

Process 1000 continues at 1004, wherein control circuitry 304 determinesthe level of the user's access to the first application based on thetime. For example, if control circuitry 304 has determined that 20 daysare left of the paid subscription, control circuitry 304 may determinethat the user still has a paid subscription to the application. However,if the amount of time is equal to zero (or less), control circuitry 304may determine that the user has lapsed back to a free subscription.

Process 1000 continues at 1006, where control circuitry 304 may changethe appearance of a menu icon associated with the application to reflectthe determined level of subscription. This may be performed in a mannerdescribed at steps 910 and 914 of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 depicts another illustrative flow diagram for a process ofchanging the appearance of a menu icon, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 1000 may be executed by controlcircuitry 304, for example, in a manner instructed to control circuitry304 by the media guidance application. In some embodiments, process 1000is executed as a part of block 906.

Process 1100 begins at 1102, wherein control circuitry 304 may, inresponse to determining that the account status indicates the firstlevel of access to the application, generate a menu icon that includesan upgrade input. For example, a menu icon (e.g., Netflix icon of FIG.5) may be generated to include an “upgrade now” text. The text may bebelow, above, alongside or overlaid over the menu icon.

Process 1100 continues at 1104, wherein control circuitry 304, inresponse to detecting the user interaction with the upgrade input, mayadjust the menu icon such that the appearance of the menu icon indicatesthat the user has the second level of access to the first application.For example, if the user has clicked the upgrade input, controlcircuitry 304 may automatically upgrade the user's level of access(e.g., by submitting the user's payment information to an applicationstore), and subsequently modify the icon to indicate that the user nowhas the second level of access (e.g., paid subscription) to theapplication.

FIG. 12 depicts yet another illustrative flow diagram for a process ofchanging the appearance of a menu icon, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 1200 may be executed by controlcircuitry 304, for example, in a manner instructed to control circuitry304 by the media guidance application. In some embodiments, process 1200is executed as a part of either block 1210 or 1214.

Process 1200 begins at 1202, where control circuitry 304 may determinewhat level of application the account status indicates. In someembodiments, steps 1204-1212 are performed in response to controlcircuitry 304 determining that the user has the first level of access(e.g., free subscription) to the first application (e.g., Netflix). Insome embodiments, steps 1214-1222 are performed in response to controlcircuitry 304 determining that the user has the second level of access(e.g., premium subscription) to the first application (e.g., Netflix).In some embodiments, any of the steps 1204-1222 may be executedoptionally, simultaneously, or consecutively.

At step 1204, control circuitry 304 may change the appearance of themenu icon to include a first color (e.g., blue). For example, thebackground or outline of the icon may be changed to include the firstcolor. In some embodiments, some designs elements (e.g., text) of themenu icon may change to the first color.

At step 1206, control circuitry 304 may change the appearance of themenu icon by setting the size of the menu icon to a first size. Forexample, the first size may be a comparatively smaller size.

At step 1208, control circuitry 304 may change the appearance of themenu icon to be static. For example, the menu icon may be generated notto include any animations.

At step 1210, control circuitry 304 may change the appearance of themenu icon to include a first text. For example, the menu icon may bemodified to include the text “free” or “free subscription.”

At step 1212, control circuitry 304 may change the appearance of themenu icon to include an indication that the user has access to a firstset of media content. For example, the menu icon may be modified toinclude the text “previews only.”

At step 1214, control circuitry 304 may change the appearance of themenu icon to include a second color (e.g., yellow). For example, thebackground or outline of the icon may be changed to include the secondcolor. In some embodiments, some designs elements (e.g., text) of themenu icon may change to the second color.

At step 1216, control circuitry 304 may change the appearance of themenu icon by setting the size of the menu icon to a second size. Forexample, the first size may be a comparatively larger size.

At step 1218, control circuitry 304 may change the appearance of themenu icon to include an animation. For example, menu icon may begenerated to including moving or flashing elements.

At step 1220, control circuitry 304 may change the appearance of themenu icon to include a first text. For example, the menu icon may bemodified to include the text “premium” or “premium subscription.”

At step 1222, control circuitry 304 may change the appearance of themenu icon to include an indication that the user has access to a secondset of media content (e.g., a set that is larger than the first set).For example, the menu icon may be modified to include the text “fulllibrary access.”

The media guidance application may retrieve information associated withthe remote controller associated with the user and the user equipment.The media guidance application may then determine the functionality ofthe remote controller based on the labels and functionality of eachinput of the remote controller (e.g., the number and labels of activebuttons/inputs it has, as well as the remote controller's ability todetect voice commands). In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve a threshold from the user profile, where thethreshold corresponds to different functionalities of the remotecontroller.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thelabel and functionality of each input of the remote controller. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine the totalnumber of programmable inputs (e.g., buttons) contained by the remotecontroller. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maycompare this number to the threshold from the user profile to determineover functionality that the remote controller has (e.g., 0-5 inputs isdetermined to be limited functionality, 5-10 inputs is determined to bemedium functionality, and 10+ inputs is determined to be highfunctionality). The media guidance application may select an appropriateuser interface corresponding to the functionality determined by thecomparison.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate anddisplay a user interface menu based on the selected user interface onthe user equipment. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay simplify the selected user interface when there are fewer buttons onthe remote controller than user interface elements on the selected userinterface. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may makethe selected user interface more complex when there are more buttons onthe remote controller than user interface elements on the selected userinterface. For example, the media guidance application may autofill textentries into areas of the selected user interface where text can beentered for remotes controllers with fewer buttons, but may not autofilltext entries for remote controllers that contain more buttons (e.g., afunctional keyboard). As another example, the media guidance applicationmay simplify the selected user interface (e.g., by changing inputs fromaccepting text inputs to yes/no questions) based on fewer inputs beingpresent on the remote controller. The media guidance application mayremove a number of commands on a selected user interface (e.g., asdepicted in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9) as the functionality of the remotecontroller becomes more limited.

As defined herein, “remote controller” refers to any kind of physicaldevice or software application that a user uses to remotely issuecommands to another physical device or software application. Forexample, “remote controller” may refer to a physical device that issuescommands to an STB and/or a TV device via IR signal. In someembodiments, “remote controller: may refer to a remote controllerapplication executed on a mobile phone that allows the user to issuecommands to an STB and/or a DVR via a network.

As defined herein, “input” of a remote controller refers to any physicalor software feature that may be used by the user to issue a specificcommand. In some embodiments, an input may refer to a button, a touchpad, a circular input, a toggle, a voice input element or any otherdevice or part of a device usable to issue a command.

As defined herein, “user interface element” refers to any kind of avisual feature of a user interface (e.g., a menu) which may beinteracted with by a user via an input of a remote controller. Forexample, a user interface element may refer to a visual display of abutton, a toggle, a voice input field, a radio input field or any othervisual feature that reacts to a command issued by a user.

FIG. 13 shows an illustrative embodiment of a user interface chosenbased on the functionality of the remote controller, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may select a user interface 1300 in response todetermining that the functionality of remote controller 1302 is highlyfunctional (e.g., remote 1302 has 10+ buttons). Remote controller 1302has entered input 1304, red input 1306, blue input 1308, settings input1310, among numerous other inputs. User interface 1300 may be displayedon a screen and represent an application menu (e.g., user interface menuof a Netflix application).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may have selecteduser interface 1300 by analyzing functionalities and labels of inputs ofremote controller 1302. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may have received this information from the remotecontroller 1302. For example, remote controller 1302 may havetransmitted the following remote controller information, depicted byTable 1:

TABLE 1 Input Label Functionality Button 1 “Red” Push Button Button 2“Blue” Push Button Button 3 “Enter” Push Button Button 4 “Settings” PushButton

In some embodiments, after receiving the remote controller information,the media guidance application may select a user interface (thatincludes a plurality of user interface elements) such that at least oneinput of the remote controller (or all inputs of the remote controller)matches at least one element of that user interface. For example, themedia guidance application may select user interface 1300 because it hasthe following user interface elements, depicted by Table 2:

TABLE 2 User Interface Element Label Functionality User Interface “Red”Push Button Element 1 User Interface “Blue” Push Button Element 2 UserInterface “Enter” Push Button Element 3 User Interface “Settings” PushButton Element 4

For example, in this embodiments the media guidance application may haveselected user interface 1300 because for each of the user interfaceelements in Table 2 there is at least one input depicted in Table 1 withmatching label and functionality. For example, Button 1 matches UserInterface Element 1, etc.

In some embodiments, user interface 1300 includes icon 1312 thatidentifies the application that is being controlled (e.g., Netflix) bythe user interface 1300. In some embodiments, user interface 1300includes user interface element 1314 that comprises a button labeled“Enter.” In some embodiments, the media guidance application may assign“Open Application” functionality to user interface element 1314. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may place text “OpenApplication” next to user interface element 1314. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may associate user interface element 1314with input 1304 of the remote 1302 based on the label and functionalityof input 1304 matching the label and functionality of user interfaceelement 1314. In some embodiments, when the user presses button 1304,the media guidance application may visually depict button 1314 beingpressed and execute the functionality associated with user interfaceelement 1314 (e.g., the media guidance application may open the Netflixapplication).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may similarlyassociate interface element 1316 with input 1306, e.g., because theyhave matching label and functionality. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may assign option two (e.g., “Annie's Profile”) tointerface element 1316. In some embodiments, when the user pressesbutton 1306, the media guidance application may visually depict button1316 being pressed and execute the functionality associated with userinterface element 1316 (e.g., the media guidance application may selectAnnie's profile).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may similarlyassociate interface element 1318 with input 1308, e.g., because theyhave matching label and functionality. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may assign option three (e.g., “Sam's Profile”) tointerface element 1318. In some embodiments, when the user pressesbutton 1308, the media guidance application may visually depict button1318 being pressed and execute the functionality associated with userinterface element 1318 (e.g., the media guidance application may selectSam's profile).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may similarlyassociate interface element 1320 with input 1310, e.g., because theyhave matching label and functionality. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may assign option four (e.g., “Change Settings forNetflix”) to interface element 1320. In some embodiments, when the userpresses button 1310, the media guidance application may visually depictbutton 1320 being pressed and execute the functionality associated withuser interface element 1317 (e.g., the media guidance application mayopen a menu for changing a Netflix setting).

FIG. 14 shows another illustrative embodiment of a user interface chosenbased on the functionality of the remote controller, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may select a user interface 1400 in response todetermining that the functionality of remote controller 1402 has limitedfunctionality (e.g., remote 1402 has fewer than five inputs). In someembodiments, remote controller 1402 has navigation input 1404, homeinput 1406, and enter input 1408, among potentially other inputs. Userinterface 1400 may be displayed on a screen and represent an applicationmenu (e.g., user interface menu of a Netflix application). In someembodiments, user interface 1400 may be used to launch and/or controlthe same application as user interface 1300 of FIG. 13.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may have selecteduser interface 1400 by analyzing functionalities and labels of inputs ofremote controller 1402. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may have received this information from the remotecontroller 1402. For example, remote controller 1402 may havetransmitted the following remote controller information, depicted byTable 3:

TABLE 3 Input Label Functionality Button 1 “Enter” Push Button Button 2“Home” Push Button Circular Directional Circular Input Navigation Input1 Arrows

In some embodiments, after receiving the remote controller information,the media guidance application may select a user interface (thatincludes a plurality of user interface elements) such that at least oneinput of the remote controller (or all inputs of the remote controller)match at least one element of that user interface. For example, themedia guidance application may select user interface 1400 because it hasthe following user interface elements, depicted by Table 4:

TABLE 4 User Interface Element Label Functionality User Interface“Enter” Push Button Element 1 User Interface Home graphical Push ButtonElement 2 icon

For example, in this embodiment, the media guidance application may haveselected user interface 1400 because for each of the user interfaceelements in Table 4 there is at least one input depicted in Table 3there with matching label and functionality (e.g., Button 1 matches,User Interface Element 1, etc.)

In some embodiments, user interface 1400 includes icon 1410 thatidentifies the application that is being controlled (e.g., Netflix) byuser interface 1400. In some embodiments, user interface 1400 includesuser interface element 1414 that comprises a button labeled “Enter.” Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may assign “OpenApplication” functionality to user interface element 1414. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may place text “OpenApplication” next to user interface element 1414. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may associate user interface element 1414with input 1408 of the remote 1402, based on the label and functionalityof input 1408 matching the label and functionality of user interfaceelement 1414. In some embodiments, when the user presses button 1408,the media guidance application may visually depict button 1414 beingpressed and execute the functionality associated with user interfaceelement 1414 (e.g., the media guidance application may open the Netflixapplication).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may similarlyassociate interface element 1412 with input 1406, e.g., because theyhave matching label and functionality. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may assign option two (e.g., “Return to Main Menu”)to interface element 1412. In some embodiments, when the user pressesbutton 1406, the media guidance application may visually depict button1412 being pressed and execute the functionality associated with userinterface element 1412 (e.g., the media guidance application may exit tothe main menu).

In some embodiments, user interface 1400 does not includefunctionalities that were available on user interface 1300. For example,user interface 1400 may lack options “Annie's profile,” “Sam's profile,”and “Change settings for Netflix” because remote controller 1402 (unlikeremote controller 1302) lacks appropriate inputs that could be matchedup with these functionalities.

As another example, the media guidance application may determine that aremote controller that has limited functionality needs to traversethrough fewer screens to get to a menu location than a remote controllerthat has medium or high functionality. For instance, the media guidanceapplication may determine that a medium or highly functional remotecontroller has to navigate through one screen to get to the Netflixhomepage (e.g., select the Netflix icon on a main menu screen associatedwith a specified input on the remote controller (e.g., a Netflix buttonon the remote)), while a limited functional remote controller has tonavigate through three screens to get to the Netflix homepage (e.g.,selecting the applications menu from the main menu screen, selecting theNetflix application from the applications menu, and then selecting the“open application” button from the Netflix menu).

As another example, the media guidance application may generate adatabase that associates different application interfaces with differentcontroller types, number of input buttons (as well their labels andfunctionalities), and voice command ability. The media guidanceapplication may compare the remote controller currently in use with thedatabase. The media guidance application may determine, from thecomparison, an optimal user interface (e.g., an interface that matcheswith the remote controller) to be displayed as the menu.

FIG. 15 depicts an illustrative flow diagram of a process 1500 for aprocess of selecting a user interface in accordance with an embodimentof the disclosure. Process 1500 may be executed by control circuitry 304(e.g., in a manner instructed to control circuitry 304 by the mediaguidance application). Control circuitry 304 may be a part of userequipment (e.g., user television equipment 402, user computer equipment404, and/or wireless communications device 406), or of a remote serverseparated from the user equipment by way of communications network 414.

Process 1500 begins at 1502, where control circuitry 304 detectsfunctionality of a remote controller (e.g., remote controller 1302 or1402) that is communicatively connected with user equipment (e.g., usertelevision equipment 402). For example, control circuitry 304 mayreceive remote controller data directly from the remote controller(e.g., via IR signal or via communication network 414). In anotherembodiment, the user may enter the model number of the remote controllervia user input interface 310, and control circuitry 304 may look up theremote controller data from a remote server (e.g., media guidance datasource 418).

Process 1500 continues at 1504, where control circuitry 304 determines alabel and functionality of each input on the remote controller. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may parse a table (e.g., Table 1 or Table3) received from the remote controller. For example, control circuitry304 may determine that the remote controller has “Button 1” labeled“Enter” and has a “Push button” functionality. In some embodiments,control circuitry 304 may also make a similar determination for everyother input of the remote controller.

Process 1500 continues at 1506, where control circuitry 304 selects auser interface with at least one user interface element that matches thelabel and functionality of at least one input of the remote controller.In some embodiments, control circuitry 404 selects a user interface withat least one user interface element that matches the label andfunctionality of every input of the remote controller. For example,control circuitry 304 may have access to several user interfaces (e.g.,user interface 1300 and user interface 1400). In some embodiments, eachuser interface may have an associated table (e.g., table 2, table 4described above) that defines labels and functionalities of each userinterface element of the associated user interface. For example, anexemplary user interface may have a table that defines “User InterfaceElement 1” that has a label “Enter” and functionality “Push Button.” Thetable may also define other user interface elements.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may select the user interfacesuch that at least one user interface element matches the label andfunctionality of at least one input of the remote controller. Forexample, “Button 1” may be determined to match User Interface Element 1″because they have the same (or similar, or compatible) labels (e.g.,“Enter” and “Enter”) and the same (or similar, or compatible)functionalities (e.g., “Push Button.”) In some embodiments, controlcircuitry 304 may select the user interface such that every userinterface element matches the label and functionality of at least oneinput of the remote controller.

Process 1500 continues at 1508, where control circuitry 304 displays theselected user interface on the user equipment. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may display the selected user interface on user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404 or display 312.

FIG. 16 depicts another illustrative flow diagram of a process 1600 fora process of selecting a user interface in accordance with an embodimentof the disclosure. Process 1600 may be executed by control circuitry 304(e.g., in a manner instructed to control circuitry 304 by the mediaguidance application). Control circuitry 304 may be a part of userequipment (e.g., user television equipment 402, user computer equipment404, and/or wireless communications device 406), or of a remote serverseparated from the user equipment by way of communications network 414.

Process 1600 begins at 1602, where control circuitry 304 detects aremote controller (e.g., remote controller 1302 or 1402) that is capableof interacting with a user interface on user equipment (e.g., user tvequipment 402) that is remote from the remote controller, the remotecontroller comprising a plurality of inputs. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may detect an identification signal from the remotecontroller. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 detects theremote controller due to explicit input by the user.

Process 1600 continues at 1604, where control circuitry 304 determinescharacteristics of the remote controller. In some embodiments, thecharacteristics may include a description of every input of theplurality of inputs. In some embodiments, the description of each inputmay comprise a type of input and a label of the input. For example, whenthe remote controller is controller 1302 of FIG. 3, the type of inputand a label of the input may be defined as described by table 1. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may determine that the remote controllerhas “button 1” labeled “enter” and having a “push button” functionality.In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may also make a similardetermination for every other input of the remote controller.

Process 1600 continues at 1606 where control circuitry 304 selects,based on the characteristics of the remote controller, an optimal userinterface to display on the user equipment. In some embodiments, controlcircuitry 304 may select the user interface to maximally utilize thecapabilities of the remote controller, yet avoid presenting options thatthe user is unable to select thus significantly improving userexperience by providing the maximum amount of possible options andavoiding frustration of seeing options that are not selectable. In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 selects the optimal user interface byperforming steps 1608-1614 as described below.

Process 1600 continues at 1608, where control circuitry 304 stores aplurality of template user interfaces, each template user interfacescomprising a plurality of user interface elements, wherein eachinterface element comprises a label and a functionality type. Forexample, each template user interface may define a layout of severaluser interface elements. For example, each template user interface maydefine absolute location of each user interface element. In anotherexample, each template user interface may define relative locations ofeach user interface element with respect to each other, such that eachtemplate user interface may be scaled to different sizes of a display.In some embodiments, each template user interface may have an associatedtable (e.g., table 2, table 4 described above) that defines labels andfunctionalities of each user interface element of the associated userinterface. For example, an exemplary template user interface may have atable that defines “User Interface Element 1” that has a label “Enter”and functionality “Push Button.” In some embodiments, process 1600 maycontinue to either 1610 or to 1612.

At 1610, control circuitry 304 may select a template user interface ofthe plurality of template user interfaces such that at least oneinterface element of that template user interface corresponds to adescription of at least one input of the remote controller. For example,“button 1” of the remote controller may be determined to match “UserInterface Element 1” of a first template user interface because theyhave the same (or similar, or compatible) label (e.g., “Enter”) and thesame (or similar, or compatible) functionalities (e.g., “push button.”)In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may consequently select thefirst template user interface as the optimal user interface for theremote controller.

At 1612, control circuitry 304 may select a template user interface ofthe plurality of template user interfaces such that each interfaceelement of that template user interface corresponds to a description ofat least one input of the remote controller. For example, “button 1” ofthe remote controller may be determined to match “User Interface Element1” of a first template user interface because they have the same (orsimilar, or compatible) label (e.g., “Enter”) and the same (or similar,or compatible) functionalities (e.g., “push button.”) In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may similarly match each userinterface element of the first template user interface to at least oneinput of the remote controller. In some embodiments, control circuitry304 may consequently select the first template user interface as theoptimal user interface for the remote controller.

In some embodiments, the at least one interface element may be found bycontrol circuitry 304 to correspond to the description of the input whenthe label of the interface element matches the label of the input, andthe type of the input is compatible with the functionality type of theinterface element. For example, label “home” of an input may match thelabel “home” of the user input element. In some embodiments, the label“home” of an input may match labels of a user input element that aresufficiently similar. For example, the label “base menu” or a picturedepicting a house may be determined to match the label “home”. In someembodiments, the functionality “push button” of an input may match thefunctionality “push button” of the user input element. In someembodiments, the functionality “toggle” of an input may match thefunctionality “radio selection” of the user input element. In someembodiments, the functionality “circular touch pad” of an input maymatch the functionality “dial” of the user input element.

At 1614, control circuitry 304 may display the selected optimal userinterface (e.g., user interface 1300 or 1400) on the user equipment(e.g., user TV equipment 402).

FIG. 17 depicts an illustrative flow diagram of a process 1700 for aprocess of detecting a remote controller, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 1700 may be executed by controlcircuitry 304, for example, in a manner instructed to control circuitry304 by the media guidance application. In some embodiments, process 1700is executed as a part of block 1602. Process 1700 may begin at either1702 or 1704. In some embodiments, these steps may be performedoptionally, sequentially or simultaneously.

At 1702, control circuitry 304 may receive a wireless identificationsignal from the remote controller. For example, the remote controllermay, via IR, transmit its model number (e.g., Samsung 4504). The remotecontroller may transmit the model number upon initial set up,periodically (e.g., every day), or aperiodically.

At 1704, control circuitry 304 may receive a user input identifying theremote controller. For example, the user may manually type in the remotecontroller's model number, e.g., via user input interface 310.

At 1706, control circuitry 304 may detect the remote controller. Forexample, the control circuitry 304 may detect the identification signalor user input signal and identify the controller using the localdatabase stored on storage 308.

FIG. 18 depicts an illustrative flow diagram of a process 1800 for aprocess of receiving characteristics of a remote controller, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 1800 may beexecuted by control circuitry 304, for example, in a manner instructedto control circuitry 304 by the media guidance application. In someembodiments, process 1800 is executed as a part of block 1604.

At 1802, control circuitry 304 may receive a remote controlleridentifier from the remote controller. For example, the remotecontroller may transmit, via IR signal or via a network, its modelnumber (e.g., Samsung 4504).

At 1804, control circuitry 304 may transmit the identifier to a remoteserver. For example, control circuitry 304 may transmit the model number(e.g., Samsung 4504) via communication network 414 to a media guidancedata source 418.

At 1806, control circuitry 304 may receive characteristics of the remotecontroller from the remote server. For example, media guidance datasource 418 may, via communication network 414, send a table (e.g., Table1 or Table 3) describing each input of the remote controller.

FIG. 19 depicts an illustrative flow diagram of a process 1900 for aprocess of storing a new template user interface, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. Process 1900 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 304, for example, in a manner instructed to controlcircuitry 304 by the media guidance application. In some embodiments,process 1900 is executed as a part of block 1606.

Process 1902 begins at 1902, wherein control circuitry 304, in responseto determining that none of the stored plurality of template userinterfaces can be selected, generates a new template user interfacebased on the characteristics of the remote controller.

For example, control circuitry 304 may determine that all of the storedtemplate user interfaces have user interface elements that cannot bematches to at least one input of the remote controller. For example,each of the stored template user interfaces may have a user interfaceelement that is a push button labeled “home,” while the remotecontroller has no button labeled, “home.” In some embodiments, controlcircuitry 304 may then modify one of the template user interfaces suchthat each interface element of that modified template user interfacecorresponds to a description of at least one input of the remotecontroller. For example, control circuitry 304 may generate a newtemplate user interface by performing steps 1904-1906, or any one of thesteps 1908, 1910, and 1912. In some embodiments, these steps may beperformed optionally, sequentially or simultaneously.

At 1904, control circuitry 304 may select a base template user interfacefrom the plurality of template user interfaces. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may select a template that is the closest to the optimaluser interface. For example, control circuitry 304 may select a userinterface template that has the fewest user interface elements thatcannot be matched to at least one input of the remote controller.

At 1906, control circuitry 304 may modify the base template userinterface such that each interface element of that modified templateuser interface corresponds to a description of at least one input of theremote controller. For example, control circuitry 304 may do so byperforming either one of steps 1908, 1910, or 1912.

At 1908, control circuitry 304 may relabel at least one interfaceelement. For example, base user interfaces may have a user interfaceelement that is a push button labeled “home,” while the remotecontroller has no button labeled “home.” On the other hand, the remotecontroller has no button labeled “return.” In some embodiments, controlcircuitry 304 may then relabel the user interface element that waslabeled “home” to be labeled “return.”

At 1910, control circuitry 304 may remove at least one interfaceelement. For example, base user interfaces may have a user interfaceelement that is a push button labeled “home,” while the remotecontroller has no button labeled, “home.” In some embodiments, controlcircuitry 304 may then remove the user interface element that waslabeled “home” from the base user interface.

At 1912, control circuitry 304 may modify functionality of at least oneinterface element. For example, base user interfaces may have a userinterface element that is a push button labeled “home,” while the remotecontroller has no button labeled “home.” On the other hand, the remotecontroller may have a voice input capability. In some embodiments,control circuitry 304 may then modify the user interface element (a pushbutton that was labeled “home”) to be an audio response element labeled“say home, to enable the user to return to home menu.

At 1914, control circuitry 304 may store the base template userinterface as a part of the plurality of template user interfaces. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may store the base template userinterface on storage 308.

FIG. 20 depicts an illustrative flow diagram of a process 1900 for aprocess of storing a new template user interface, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. Process 2000 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 304, for example, in a manner instructed to controlcircuitry 304 by the media guidance application. In some embodiments,process 2000 is executed as a part of block 1606.

Process 2000 begins at 2002, wherein control circuitry 304 may, inresponse to determining that the remote controller has more inputs thanthe number of user interface elements of the selected optimal userinterface, modify the selected optimal user interface based on thecharacteristics of the remote controller.

For example, control circuitry 304 may determine that the remotecontroller has inputs that do not correspond to at least one userinterface element of the optimal user interface. For example, the remotecontroller may have a button labeled “home,” while optimal userinterface has no user interface element labeled “home.” In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may then modify the selected optimaluser interface based on the characteristics of the remote controller.For example, control circuitry 304 may do so by performing any of thesteps 2004-2008. In some embodiments, these steps may be performedoptionally, sequentially or simultaneously.

At 2004, control circuitry 304 may add at least one new user interfaceelement to the optimal user interface. For example, the remotecontroller may have a button labeled “home,” while the optimal userinterface has no user interface element label “home.” In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may then add a button to the optimaluser interface with a label “home.”

At 2006, control circuitry 304 may add a label to a blank user interfaceelement. For example, the remote controller may have a button labeled“home,” while the optimal user interface has no user interface elementlabeled, “home.” In some embodiments, the optimal user interface maydeliberately have some user interface elements that are left blank. Insome embodiments, control circuitry 304 may then add a “home” label toone of such user interface elements that are left blank.

At 2008, control circuitry 304 may modify functionality of at least oneinterface element. For example, the remote controller may have acircular volume control, while the optimal user interface has two pushbuttons labeled “volume up” and “volume down.” In some embodiments,control circuitry 304 may modify the functionality of the push buttonslabeled “volume up” and “volume down” to be a dial that visually turnsin response to the user operating the circular volume control.

At 2010, control circuitry 304 may store the modified template userinterface as a part of the plurality of template user interfaces. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may store the base template userinterface on storage 308.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may schedule forrecording only episodes of the relevant season that follow the lastepisode watched by the user. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may avoid scheduling for recording episodes of a season thatprecede the relevant season, or follow the relevant season. For example,if the user has most recently watched Season 3, Episode 4 of the “Gameof Thrones” series, Season 3 may be determined to be the relevantseason. In this example, the media guidance application may schedule forrecording any available “Game of Thrones” episodes from season 3, butnot from any seasons that precede or follow season 3 (e.g., season 1, 2,and 4-6). In some embodiments, the media guidance application may,additionally, only schedule episodes of season that follow season 3,episode 4. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maynotify the user when the season recording is complete. This techniqueprovides an improvement to the technical field of video recording, bysaving space on a DVR by not selecting episodes that are not currentlyrelevant to the user.

As referred to herein, the term “series” or “media asset series” refersto any kind of media (e.g., video, audio, or multimedia) content thatincludes distinct sequential episodes that may be watched separatelyfrom one another. For example, the television series “Game of Thrones”may include sequential episodes “Episode 1,” “Episode 2,” . . . “Episode7.” A series may be intended to be provided in a sequential orderaccording to episode numbering via a television, a computer, or anyother user device. In some embodiments, e.g., when the series are insyndication, the series may be provided in any order.

As referred to herein, the term “episode” refers to any kind of media(e.g., video, audio, or multimedia) content that forms a distinct partof a series. Each episode can be watched separately from other episodesof the series. Episodes may be typically arranged sequentially by numbersuch that content of one episode follows content of a previous episode.

FIG. 21 shows an illustrative media guidance interface on a displayscreen that may provide improved functionality for resuming a relevantseason of a series in accordance with various embodiments of thedisclosure. Display 2100 shows a media guidance interface for videopresentation and an interface for scheduling a season recording. In someembodiments, display 2100 may display media content provided by themedia guidance application. For example, display 2100 may display image2102. Image 2102 may be a part of media content provided by the mediaguidance application. In some embodiments, media content provided by themedia guidance application includes a series that contains a pluralityof sequential episodes.

In some embodiments, display 2100 may include current episode userinterface UI element 2110. In some embodiments, current episode UIelement 2110 may indicate an episode (Season 3, Episode 4) of the series(e.g., the “Game of Thrones” series) that is currently selected by theuser. In some embodiments, current episode UI element 2110 may includeepisode label 2112. For example, episode label 2112 may visuallyindicate the currently selected episodes. For example, episode label2112 may include the text “Game of Thrones, Season 3, Episode 4.” Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may assume that thecurrently selected episode is the last episodes of the series that waswatched by the user. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay maintain a file that tracks all episodes ever watched by the user todetermine the last episode of the series that was watched by the user.

In some embodiments, display 2100 may include season recording interface2104. For example, season recording interface 2104 may be displayed inresponse to a user clicking a “record” button on a remote controller. Insome embodiments, season recording interface 2104 may include radioselection interface 2106 that allows the user to select one of theseason recording options. For example, radio selection interface 2106may allow the user to select between “current season,” “relevantseason,” and “all seasons” options. In some embodiments, the user mayconfirm the selection by clicking “record season” button 2108, that isdisplayed on display 2100

In some embodiments, if the “current season” option was chosen, themedia guidance application may schedule for recording the most recentseason of the series. For example, if the series is the “Game ofThrones” series that includes six seasons, the media guidanceapplication may schedule for recording all episodes of season 6 (whichis the most recent season).

In some embodiments, if the “all seasons” option was chosen, the mediaguidance application may schedule for recording all seasons of theseries. For example, if the series is the “Game of Thrones” series thatincludes six seasons, the media guidance application may schedule forrecording all episodes of all six seasons.

In some embodiments, if the “relevant season” option was chosen, themedia guidance application may schedule for recording the only therelevant season of the series. For example, if the series is the “Gameof Thrones” series that includes six seasons, the media guidanceapplication may determine what was the latest episode of the “Game ofThrones” series that was watched by the user to determine which seasonis relevant. For example, if the user last watched season 3, episode 4,the media guidance application may determine that Season 3 is therelevant season. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maythen schedule for recording all episodes of season 3 (even if seasons4-6 are seasons that follow season 3.) That is, episodes of seasons 4-6of the “Game of Thrones” series are not scheduled for recording. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may additionally, schedulefor recording only episodes of the relevant season (e.g., season 3) thatfollow the last episode watched by the user (e.g., episode 4 of season3).

FIG. 22 depicts an illustrative flow diagram of a process 2200 forscheduling a season recording, in accordance with an embodiment of thedisclosure. Process 2200 may be executed by control circuitry 304 (e.g.,in a manner instructed to control circuitry 304 by the media guidanceapplication). Control circuitry 304 may be a part of user equipment(e.g., user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,and/or wireless communications device 406), or of a remote serverseparated from the user equipment by way of communications network 414.

Process 2200 begins at 2202, where control circuitry 304 provides aseries (e.g., the “Game of Thrones” series) to a user device, the seriescomprising a plurality of sequential seasons, each season comprising aplurality of episodes. For example, control circuitry 304 may make theseries (or any portion of the series) available for viewing on userequipment (e.g., user television equipment 402 or user computerequipment 404). For example, control circuitry 304 may provide episodesof the series via a broadcast signal in an order defined by a TVschedule, or via a network (in any order) in response to user requests.

Process 2200 continues at 2204, where control circuitry 304 receives arequest for recording the series. For example, a user may requestrecording of the relevant season of the series via season recordinginterface 2104 of FIG. 21.

Process 2200 continues at 2206, where control circuitry 304 identifies alast episode of the series watched by the user. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may maintain a file (e.g., on storage 308) where everyepisode ever watched by the user is recorded. In some embodiments,control circuitry 304 may then select the highest-number episodeidentified by the file. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may,instead, assume that an episode of the series that is currently selectedby the user is the episode that was watched last. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may determine that an episode identified by episode label2112 of FIG. 21 is the episode that was watched last. For example, ifepisode label 2112 contains text “Game of Thrones, Season 3, Episode 4,”the control circuitry 304 may determine that Season 3, Episode 4 is thelast watched episode of the “Game of Thrones” series.

Process 2200 continues at 2208, where control circuitry 304 determines arelevant season of the plurality of seasons that precedes another seasonof the plurality of seasons and that includes the last episode watchedby the user. For example, the series may be the “Game of Thrones” seriesthat includes six seasons, while Season 3, Episode 4 is the last watchedepisode of the “Game of Thrones” series. In this example, controlcircuitry 304 may determine that Season 3 (a season that precedesseasons 4-6) is the relevant season, because it includes the episode thelast episode watched by the user.

Process 2200 continues at 2210, where control circuitry 304 schedulesfor recording episodes of the relevant season (e.g., season 3 of the“Game of Thrones” series) that follow the last episode watched by theuser (e.g., Season 3, Episode 4) such that episodes of a season thatprecedes the relevant season are not scheduled for recording. In someembodiments, episodes of seasons that precede the relevant season (e.g.,seasons 1 and 2) are not scheduled for recording. In some embodiments,episodes of seasons that follow the relevant season (e.g., seasons 4-6)are also not scheduled for recording.

FIG. 23 depicts an illustrative flow diagram of a process 2300 forscheduling a season recording, in accordance with an embodiment of thedisclosure. Process 2300 may be executed by control circuitry 304 (e.g.,in a manner instructed to control circuitry 304 by the media guidanceapplication). Control circuitry 304 may be a part of user equipment(e.g., user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,and/or wireless communications device 406), or of a remote serverseparated from the user equipment by way of communications network 414.

Process 2300 begins at 2302, where control circuitry 304 provides aseries (e.g., the “Game of Thrones” series) to a user device, the seriescomprising a plurality of sequential seasons, each season comprising aplurality of episodes. For example, control circuitry 304 may make theseries (or any portion of the series) available for viewing on userequipment (e.g., user television equipment 402 or user computerequipment 404). For example, control circuitry 304 may provide episodesof the series via broadcast in an order defined by a TV schedule, or viaa network in response to user requests.

Process 2300 continues at 2304, where control circuitry 304 maintains aseries progress indicator that identifies the last episode of the serieswatched by the user. For example, control circuitry 304 may maintain afile (e.g., on storage 308) where every episode ever watched by the useris recorded. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may then set theseries progress indicator to the highest number episode stored by thefile. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may, instead, set theseries progress indicator to indicate an episode of the series that iscurrently selected by the user is the episode that was watched last. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may determine that an episode identifiedby episode label 2112 is the episode that was watched last. For example,if episode label 2112 contains text “Game of Thrones, Season 3, Episode4,” the control circuitry 304 may determine that Season 3, Episode 4 isthe last watched episode of the “Game of Thrones” series. In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may then set the series progressindicator to Season 3, Episode 4.

Process 2300 continues at 2306, where control circuitry 304 receives arequest for recording the series. For example, a user may requestrecording of the relevant season of the series via season recordinginterface 2104 of FIG. 21. For example, the user may explicitly selectan option to record the relevant season as shown on FIG. 21. In someembodiments, the user may explicitly select an option to record therelevant season among other options, such as an option to record thecurrent season, and an option to record all seasons.

In some embodiments, in response to receiving a request for recordingthe series, control circuitry 304 may determine a relevant season of theplurality of seasons that precedes another season of the plurality ofseasons and that includes the episode identified by the series progressindicator. For example, the series may be the “Game of Thrones” seriesthat includes six seasons, while Season 3, Episode 4 is the episode ofthe “Game of Thrones” series that is identified by the series progressindicator. In this example, control circuitry 304 may determine thatSeason 3 (a season that precedes seasons 4-6) is the relevant season,because it includes the episode identified by the series progressindicator. In this example, season 3 may be selected as the relevantseason, even though season 3 precedes seasons 4-6.

Process 2300 continues at 2308, where control circuitry 304 may monitora broadcast schedule to identify a plurality of available episodes ofthe series. For example, control circuitry 304 may receive the broadcastschedule from media guidance data source 418. For example, the broadcastschedule may identify a plurality of episodes, titles of those episodes,season and number information for each episode, broadcast times, andbroadcast channel. For example, the broadcast schedule may includeinformation that Season 3, Episode 5 of the “Game of Thrones” series isscheduled for broadcast on Nov. 21, 2017 at 3:00 PM on channel 112. Insome embodiments, control circuitry 304 may identify, in the broadcastschedule, each episode of the series that is scheduled for broadcast. Insome embodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor a broadcast scheduleby accessing a user profile to determine if the user has a subscriptionthat allows for recording of a plurality of available episodes of theseries. For example, if the user is not authorized to view channel 112,that episode may be excluded from consideration by control circuitry304.

Process 2300 continues at 2310, where control circuitry 304 may, foreach particular episode of the plurality of available episodes of theseries, determine that the particular episode belongs to the relevantseason and follows the episode identified by the series progressindicator. For example, if the relevant season is Season 3, and theepisode identified by the series progress indicator is Season 3, Episode4, control circuitry 304 may determine if the particular episode belongsto Season 3 and follows the episode identified by the series progressindicator (e.g., has an episode number that is higher than 4.) In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may then (if the determinationsucceeds) schedule the particular episode to be recorded on the userequipment (e.g., on a DVR) such that episodes of a season that precedesthe relevant season are not scheduled for recording. That is, none ofthe episodes of Seasons 1-2 may be scheduled for recording. In someembodiments, episodes of a season that follow the relevant season arealso not scheduled for recording. That is, none of the episodes ofSeasons 4-6 may be scheduled for recording.

Process 2300 continues at 2312, where control circuitry 304 may recordall episodes scheduled to be recorded at their respective broadcasttimes. For example, Season 3, Episode 5 of the “Game of Thrones” seriesmay have been scheduled for recording, and it was scheduled forbroadcast on Nov. 21, 2017 at 3:00 PM on channel 112. In this example,control circuitry 304 may record Season 3, Episode 5 by tuning tochannel 112 on Nov. 21, 2017 at 3:00 PM and recording the content thatis being broadcast over that channel.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor which episodesare being recorded. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may, inresponse to determining that all episodes of the relevant season thatfollow the episode identified by the series progress indicator arerecorded, provide a completion notification to the user. For example, ifall episodes of Season 3 that follow episode 4 (e.g., episodes 5-10) arerecorded, control circuitry 304 may display a notification (e.g., ondisplay 2100) that has the text “season 3 of Game of Thrones is fullyrecorded.”

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may determine (e.g., based onthe broadcast schedule) that at least one episode of the relevant seriesthat follows the episode identified by the series progress indicator isnot available for recording. For example, Season 3, Episode 5 may bemissing from the broadcast schedule. In some embodiments, in response,control circuitry 304 may determine that the at least one episode of therelevant series is available for over-the-top (OTT) streaming. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may determine that Season 3, Episode 5 isavailable for streaming on Netflix. In some embodiments, controlcircuitry 304 may then provide a notification to the user, thenotification comprising a hyperlink for streaming the at least oneepisode of the relevant series via at least one OTT streaming service.For example, control circuitry 304 may display a notification (e.g., ondisplay 2100) that has text “Season 3, Episode 5 of Game of Thrones isavailable on Netflix.” The notification may also include a hyperlink forstreaming Season 3, Episode 5 of “Game of Thrones” series on Netflix. Insome embodiments, control circuitry 304 may access a user profile todetermine if the user has a subscription to the at least one OTTstreaming service (e.g., Netflix). In some embodiments, the notificationis displayed only if the user has the relevant subscription.

The user may use a media guidance application to launch otherthird-party applications. These third-party applications can be launchedin a menu of the media guidance application. As defined herein, “thirdparty applications” are any applications developed by or sold by anentity other than the original vendor of the media guidance application.The menu of the media guidance application is a display that allows theuser to navigate to different types of content, settings, applications,and other features. The menu is user customizable because it may onlyfeature certain user selectable applications. The media guidanceapplication may generate and display the menu on the user equipment. Themedia guidance application may generate applications to be displayed inthe menu on the user equipment based on user preferences as well asdefault settings (e.g., certain applications are preinstalled on everyuser's main menu). The media guidance application may receive an inputfrom the user to access the applications using some means to navigateand select an application. For example, the media guidance applicationmay receive input from the user using input buttons on a remote controlto navigate the menu. As another example, the media guidance applicationmay receive a voice command from a user to navigate the menu. An exampleimplementation of the menu may be seen in FIGS. 12-15.

The user may customize the menu by ranking or categorizing theapplications to allow for the applications to be automatically selectedfor inclusion/exclusion from the menu based on how the userranks/categorizes the applications.

In some embodiments, the user may categorize the applications using a“thumbs up” and “thumbs down” categorization. The media guidanceapplication may generate a menu to be displayed on the user equipmentthat displays third-party applications. The media guidance applicationmay receive input from the user, via a remote control, containing a userchoice as to whether to categorize a selected application as a“favorite” application. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that a user has selected an application (e.g., the usernavigated to a certain application in the menu) to be one of the user's“favorite” applications by receiving a “thumbs up” input from a remotecontrol via the “thumbs up” remote control button. The media guidanceapplication may also determine that a user no longer wants anapplication to be a “favorite” by determining that a user has selected ahighlighted application and has selected the “thumbs down” button on theremote control. An example implementation of the favorites menu may beseen in FIG. 27.

In some embodiments, the user may rank the applications. The mediaguidance application may present a set of applications from a pluralityof applications to the user. The media guidance application may generatea prompt asking the user to rank the applications within the set ofapplications. The user may navigate through the set of applications andrank them using commands from a remote control (e.g., using the numberkeys to assign a number to each application) or may rank the set ofapplications based on a voice command (e.g., giving a voice command of anumerical value for each application in the set of applications, orassigning each application in the set of applications an arbitrary ranksuch as “high,” “medium,” or “low” etc.) The media guidance applicationmay order the applications in the menu based on their rank (e.g., fromapplications ranked highest to lowest).

In some embodiments, the applications may be ranked according topopularity. The media guidance application may determine, based on asetting in the user preferences from the user profile, that the userprefers for the applications to be ranked and ordered based onpopularity. The media guidance application may retrieve data from otherusers who are associated with the user (e.g., friends of the user) todetermine the popularity of the applications. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the application that is used themost (e.g., has the highest amount of total use time out of all theapplications) is ranked the highest, and as follows, the subsequentapplications are ranked from high to low based on the total time use. Asanother example, the media guidance application may determine theoverall rankings based on the individual user rankings for eachapplication. The media guidance application may determine the rankingbased on the individual user rankings for each application (e.g., anapplication is ranked the highest by the most users, and thus it isranked the highest for the user).

The media guidance application may create user profiles for users in aplurality of users. The media guidance application may store the userprofiles in a database. The media guidance application may determinepreferences for each user corresponding to each user profile based oninputs from the user. The media guidance application may determine thateach user profile in the plurality of profiles has preset preferences(e.g., determined by an editor) that may be adjustable via user input.

The media guidance application may display profile choices correspondingto the user profiles on the user equipment. The media guidanceapplication may receive an input from the user corresponding toselecting a profile (e.g., a user selecting a profile displayed on theuser equipment using a button on a remote controller). Based on theselection of the user, the media guidance application may generate amenu screen based on the preferences of the selected user profile.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may store, in thepreferences for the user, data corresponding to user accountinformation. The data corresponding to user account information maycontain account information (e.g., login credentials such as a user nameand password) associated with an application. For example, the mediaguidance application may store, in the preferences for the user, ausername and password corresponding to a third-party application.

In some embodiments, when the user requests to access an application(e.g., the user selects, via a remote, the third-party applicationNetflix), the media guidance application may automatically retrieve theuser's login credentials (e.g., username and password) associated withthe application from the database in the user profile. The mediaguidance application may automatically log into the application withoutgenerating a prompt for the user requesting the user to input the user'slogin credentials (e.g., username and password).

In some embodiments, when a user requests to access an application(e.g., the user selects, via a voice command, the third-partyapplication Netflix), the media guidance application may determine theidentity of the user based on a voiceprint from the voice command (e.g.,a unique voice identifier). The media guidance application may determinethe corresponding user profile for the user based on a voiceprint (e.g.,matching the voiceprint to a correct voiceprint stored in the userprofile). The media guidance application may automatically retrieve theuser's login credentials (e.g., username and password) associated withthe application from the database in the user profile. The mediaguidance application may automatically log into the application withoutgenerating a prompt for the user requesting the user to input the user'slogin credentials (e.g., username and password).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may use data fromthird-party applications as data inputs into the prediction calculationto influence recommendations in the prediction bar, as seen in FIG. 11and at 2532. The media guidance application may retrieve viewing historydata, favorites data, and any other relevant data to use as inputs intothe prediction calculation.

The media guidance application may generate and display a main menu bar.The media guidance application may provide suggestions (e.g., based onmachine learning, frequency, user preferences, user input, etc.) ofitems that should be featured in the main menu bar list. For example,the media guidance application may determine, based on the frequency ofthe user using a certain application (e.g., the user spends more time onthe video streaming application Netflix than any other application), tosuggest to the user to add “Netflix” as an item that should be featuredin the main menu bar list.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thefunctionality of the remote controller based on the remote's ability todetect voice commands. The media guidance application may retrieve menuscreen settings corresponding to voice commands. The media guidanceapplication may generate and display a menu screen based on the voicecommand settings. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate a menu that consistently displays prompts to the user to beanswered via voice commands (e.g., “what movie would you like towatch?”). As another example, the media guidance application maygenerate a menu that is “keyword friendly.” The media guidanceapplication may display a keyword associated with a voice command thatcorresponds to an action (e.g., the keyword “open Netflix” next to thethird-party application, Netflix).

As another example, when the remote controller has the ability toprocess voice commands, the media guidance application may generate anddisplay a menu screen based on the voice command settings. The mediaguidance application may generate icons for voice input to be displayedon the menu screen. The icons for voice input may include a microphoneicon, pause/play icon, home menu icon, etc. These icons may not begenerated when the remote controller does not have the functionality toprocess voice commands.

The media guidance application may change a menu bar based on userattributes (e.g., tone of voice, facial recognition that the user ishappy/sad/etc.). The media guidance application may determine userattributes using a sensor (e.g., a camera, a smartwatch that measuresbiometrics) or based on user data (e.g., the user is only watching “sad”movies based on metadata from the user's watch history, indicating thatthe user is sad). The media guidance application may compare the currentattribute of the user (e.g., stored in a database in the user profile)to the determined user attributes. The media guidance application maychange the appearance and functionality of the menu bar in response todetermining that an attribute of the user has changed.

The media guidance application may change the display of a menu barbased on detecting a new user. The media guidance application maydisplay a menu bar based on the profile of a current user accessing theuser equipment. The media guidance application may detect a new user,who is not the current user, accessing the user equipment.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may use a camera toidentify a new user. The camera may detect the presence of a new user ina viewing environment of the new user. The camera may identify the newuser (e.g., using facial/body recognition) and retrieve a profileassociated with the new user. Based on the preferences in the profileassociated with the new user, the media guidance application maygenerate a menu bar to be displayed on the user equipment based on thepreferences in the profile associated with the new user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may use voicerecognition to determine a new user. The voice recognition may detectthe presence of a new user in a viewing environment of the new user. Thevoice recognition may identify the new user (e.g., matching an audiosample of the voice to a corresponding voice audio sample from a userprofile) and retrieve a profile associated with the new user. Based onthe preferences in the profile associated with the new user, the mediaguidance application may generate a menu bar to be displayed on the userequipment based on the preferences in the profile associated with thenew user.

The media guidance application may detect an audio input from the user.The media guidance application may determine the user corresponding tothe audio (e.g., voice) input. The media guidance application maycompare the audio input to audio samples in a plurality of audio samplesstored in a database, each audio sample corresponding to a known user.The media guidance application may determine, from the comparison, theidentity of user from whom the audio input came from (e.g., determinethe user from the voice input). The media guidance application may makethis determination based on matches in the tone, loudness, and otheraudio characteristics used to match audio signals.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine, fromthe comparison, that there is not a match between the audio input andthe plurality of audio samples corresponding to known users. The mediaguidance application may store the audio input in the database as anunknown user, and upon creation of a user profile for said unknown user,the media guidance application may assign the unknown user's audiosamples to the newly created user profile.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve aprofile for the user corresponding to the identified user from the audioinput comparison. The media guidance application may then process theaudio input from the user. For example, the media guidance applicationmay use natural language processing of the audio input to determine theexact command said by the user. For example, the media guidanceapplication may use natural language processing on the phrase spoken bythe user (e.g., :“catch me up to where Juliette is on ‘Game ofThrones’”) to determine that the user wants to watch “Game of Thrones”from the user's current position in “Game of Thrones” to the latestepisode that Juliette has viewed. The media guidance application maydetermine keywords in the command spoken by the user associated withother users. These keywords may include names of users (e.g., Juliette),which are associated with the user profiles, as well as familialrelationships (e.g., wife, brother, etc.). The media guidanceapplication may determine familial relationships based on data retrievedfrom social media, user input, machine learning, etc. The media guidanceapplication may determine, the context of the command using naturallanguage processing (e.g., watching “Game of Thrones” to catch up toanother viewer's place).

FIG. 24 corresponds to display 2400, where in response to user command2404 (e.g., “Catch me up to where Juliette is on ‘Game of Thrones’”)from user 2402, the media guidance application generates playlist (e.g.,episodes of “Game of Thrones”) 2406. The media guidance application maygenerate prompt 2408 that displays queries to the user, such as “Beginplaylist to catch up to Juliette?” and other similar queries. Trick playbar 624 displays the user's progress in playlist 2406.

The media guidance application, in response to determining that akeyword of another user exists in the spoken command, as well as inresponse to determining the context of the command, may access theprofile of the second user (e.g., Juliette) to retrieve data from thesecond user's profile. The media guidance application may retrieveviewing history data, user preferences, and other similar types of datafrom the second user's profile. The media guidance application maydetermine, from the second user's data, information related to thecontext of the command (e.g., what episodes of Game of Thrones thesecond user watched). The media guidance application may generate, basedon the information, a response to the user's command. For example, themedia guidance application may generate a response (e.g., a playlist of“Game of Thrones” episodes from the next episode the user needs to watchuntil the latest episode the second user viewed) by retrieving the firstuser's viewing history data to determine the next episode the user needsto view and by retrieving the second user's viewing history data todetermine the latest episode the second user viewed, and play-back theresponse after receiving a user command (e.g., the user selecting “play”or “select” on a remote control in response to the generated response).As another example, the media guidance application may determine, basedon the viewing history data of the second user, that the latest episodethat the second user watched was only partially viewed (e.g., the seconduser watched only 15 minutes out of the 60-minute episode). The mediaguidance application may generate the playlist of episodes for the firstuser to catch the first user up to the play position (e.g., the15-minute mark) of the latest episode that the second user watched. Themedia guidance application may pause play-back of the playlist ofepisodes when it reaches the play position and may generate a prompt forthe user (e.g., “You've caught up to Juliette! Would you like to keepwatching or end your viewing session?”) to determine if the user wouldlike to move past the play position of the second user or stop watchingthe playlist.

In some embodiments, when the user navigates to a menu (e.g., the “MyShows” menu), the media guidance application will retrieve artwork froma database to be displayed behind the menu, as seen in FIG. 28. The usermay navigate to or select media content using a remote controller orvoice command. The media guidance application may retrieve artworkrelated to the selected media content.

In some embodiments, when the user is selecting a show to view from amenu screen (e.g., the “My Shows” menu) the media guidance applicationmay retrieve the user profile for the user selecting the show. When theuser selects to view a specific episode of the show (e.g., an episode of“Orange is the New Black”), the media guidance application may retrieveprofile information for the applications where the user can view theepisode on (e.g., Netflix, Amazon Video, etc.). The media guidanceapplication may automatically play the episode of the show via one ofthe applications (e.g., choses the application to play through based ona user-specified preset application order) without going via the normalprocess of opening the application, choosing a user profile in theapplication, searching for the episode, and then selecting to play theepisode. The media guidance application may automatically choose aprofile from the application based on retrieving a profile associatedwith that application as found in a database in the user profile to playthe episode via. This ensures that the user's watch history,recommendations, and other information the application uses viewinghistory data for is not altered by a foreign user.

The media guidance application may configure the system to utilize astickiness key. As referred to herein, a “stickiness key” is a settingthat, if on, saves the settings and current page of a selected submenu,even when navigating outside of the submenu for a set amount of time(e.g., 30 seconds). The media guidance application may retrieve thesetting from the preferences in the user profile. The media guidanceapplication may determine that the setting is preset (e.g., preset to be“on” by an editor) and adjustable by the user. For example, the mediaguidance application may generate a prompt to the user in the settingsmenu that asks the user whether to turn the stickiness key on or off(e.g., creating two selectable options on the prompt: “yes”/“no”).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect that theuser has navigated to a menu screen that is associated to the stickinesskey. The media guidance application may store generic menu screensassociated with the stickiness key in a database in the user profile.The media guidance application may compare, upon detecting that the userhas pressed a button that would navigate outside of said menu screen,said menu screen and the generic menu screens to determine whether thereis a match. In response to determining that there is a match, the mediaguidance application can store, in a temporary cache in memory or instorage, the settings, data, and metadata associated with the currentmenu screen. The media guidance application may store enough data to beable to recreate the current menu screen from scratch in real time. Themedia guidance application may then navigate to a screen related to theinput pressed by the user. In response to the user navigating back tothe screen the user was viewing prior to the input from the user, themedia guidance application may determine the amount of time between theuser pressing the input button on the remote to navigate away from thecurrent menu screen and the time the user pressed the button on theremote to navigate back to the current menu screen. In response todetermining that the period of time is within a threshold period of time(e.g., 30 seconds retrieved from the user profile), the media guidanceapplication may display the current menu screen instead of the stockmenu screen. The media guidance application may retrieve the thresholdperiod of time from the preferences in the user profile. The mediaguidance application may determine that the threshold period of time ispreset by an editor that may be adjustable based on user input. Themedia guidance application may also retrieve the threshold period oftime from previously stored settings in the user profile. For example,the media guidance application may retrieve the threshold period of timefrom the preferences in the user profile (e.g., 30 seconds which waspreset by an editor). In response to determining that the period of timeis not within the threshold period of time, the media guidanceapplication may reset the menu screen to it's original (stock) settings.The media guidance application may delete the data stored in thetemporary cache in the memory or in the storage after the thresholdperiod of time. When the user navigates back to the current menu screenafter the threshold period of time, the current menu screen will bereset to its default state.

In some embodiments, when the user navigates back to the current menuscreen after the threshold period of time, and the media guidanceapplication has reset the current menu screen to its default state, themedia guidance application may generate a prompt to ask the user if theuser wishes to extend the threshold period of time (e.g., “Do you wantto extend the stickiness time from 30 seconds to 45 seconds?) withinputs to record the user's response (e.g., “yes” and “no” inputbuttons).

FIG. 25 represents one embodiment of the stickiness key. At 2500, stepone occurs, where the user has navigated to search menu 2502. Searchmenu 2502 contains search bar 2504, which may contain user input thatthe user wants to search (e.g., “Harry Potter”). Search result grid 2506represents the results generated from the user search. Search result2506 represents one of the plurality of search results (e.g., “HarryPotter and the Sorcerer's Stone”). Highlighted search result 2508represents a search result (e.g., “Harry Potter and the Chamber ofSecrets”) that the user has navigated over, which may be represented bya visual cue (e.g., highlighting the search result box). Results window2510 represents an image associated with the content from search result2508. Text box 2512 represents a text box that contains a textualdescription of the content from search result 2508. Application box 2514represents an application where the user can view the content fromsearch result 2508.

At 2516, step two occurs, where the user selects an input button fromremote controller 2518. Remote controller 2518 may contain enter input2520, home input 2522, along with numerous other input buttons. At 2524,step three occurs, where the user may accidentally select home input2522 instead of enter input 2520, which reverts the user back to homemenu 2526. Home menu 2526 may contain overlay bar 2528, favorites list2530, and prediction bar 2532. At 2534, step four occurs, where themedia guidance application determines, upon the user navigating back tosearch menu 2502, whether the period of time 2538 that it took for theuser to navigate back to the search menu is within threshold period oftime 2536 associated with the stickiness key. At 2540, step four occurs,where the media guidance application determines that period of time 2538is within threshold period of time 2536, and search menu 2502 isretrieved and displayed for the user, where search menu 2502 displayssearch result grid 2504 and contains the same results as the previoussearch. When the media guidance application determines that period oftime 2538 is not within threshold period of time 2536, search menu 2502is displayed without any saved data (e.g., does not contain “HarryPotter” in search bar 2504 and would not display search result grid2504).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may adjust thethreshold period of time based on the speed of user's clicks on theremote. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatthe user navigates away from a menu screen (e.g., makes an incorrectselection on the remote) and always navigates back to the menu screen,but at a slower pace than normal (e.g., it takes the user 45 seconds vs.the threshold amount of 30 seconds). The media guidance application maylearn from this behavior that the threshold for the user should beadjusted to make it longer (e.g., at least 45 seconds).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may adjust thethreshold period of time based on the age of the user. The mediaguidance application may retrieve the age of the user from the userprofile. The user guidance application may determine, based on the ageof the user (e.g., adjust the threshold to be longer for older users andshorter for younger users), an adjustment to the threshold period oftime.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may also makedeterminations about the user based on the accuracy and slowness oftheir clicks on the remote controller. For example, the media guidanceapplication may measure the period of time between a user selecting twobuttons on the remote controller (e.g., the user takes 45 secondsbetween selecting two buttons when the normal average is 5 seconds). Themedia guidance application may compare the period of time to a normalaverage time between selecting two buttons on a remote (e.g., this datamay be stored in a database in the user profile or may be calculatedbased on input selection history from other user accounts). The mediaguidance application may determine if the period of time is out of rangeof the normal average time (e.g., not within a threshold percentage ofthe normal average time) that the user takes longer to select remotecontrol buttons. After determining this, the media guidance applicationmay simplify the menu and user interface to help the user navigatethrough the menu more easily and while spending less time on the menu.The media guidance application may simplify the user interface insimilar manners as described above with regards to remote controllerfunctionality.

The media guidance application may generate a list of keywords, based oninputs from a user. The media guidance application may search metadatafrom the program guide corresponding to future programs to be broadcast.The media guidance application may compare the metadata with the list ofkeywords, and may determine a match between the metadata and the list ofkeywords. In response to determining a match, the media guidanceapplication may record the program corresponding to the metadata thatmatched.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine, fromthe metadata, that the matched program is part of a plurality of matchedprograms (e.g., a single episode in a television series). The mediaguidance application may record the corresponding episodes in theplurality of related episodes, regardless of whether the correspondingepisodes are a match. The media guidance application may determinewhether to record the corresponding episodes based on a preference inthe user profile (e.g., the user selects “record correspondingepisodes”).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive userinput that adds or deletes words on the list of keywords. The mediaguidance application may automatically delete any previously recordedprograms in a plurality of programs that contains the deleted keyword.The media guidance application may determine whether to automaticallydelete the previously recorded programs that contain the deletedkeywords based on settings (e.g., may be in the user preferences) in theuser profile.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate aprompt to be displayed on the user equipment. The prompt may containselectable options including allowing the user to delete a list ofkeywords, delete a list of keywords and all corresponding programsrecorded via those keywords, add to or delete from a list of keywords,and/or create a new list of keywords. The media guidance application maygenerate this prompt in response to the user navigating to the list ofkeywords section on a menu screen (e.g., may be the wishlist sectionthat the user navigates to via a remote controller).

In some systems, when recording a series of a television show, thesystem records all episodes of all seasons of the series, which may notbe an accurate representation of what episodes the user has already seenand needs to see. For example, the user may, when watching a rerun ofthe first episode of season three of “Game of Thrones,” press the recordseries button. The system may then record any episode, whether it be arerun or new episode, from any season of the series. However, due to thefact that the user decided to record the series when watching the firstepisode of the third season of “Game of Thrones,” this may be indicativethat the user has already viewed the first and second series of “Game ofThrones.” Depending on settings in the user preferences, the mediaguidance application may determine to only record episodes from thethird season and later of “Game of Thrones” to ensure that only episodesthat the user has not previously viewed are recorded.

The media guidance application may receive a user input to record aprogram in a plurality of programs (e.g., recording a series of atelevision show). The media guidance application may determine, from asetting stored in the profile, the user's preferences for recording. Themedia guidance application may retrieve the user's “record series”setting in the user profile. The media guidance application maydetermine, based on the retrieved setting (e.g., the setting is set to“current season” instead of “all”), to record programs that meet acriterion (e.g., only record episodes from the current playing seasonand later). The media guidance application may retrieve the criterionfrom the preferences in the user profile. The criterion may bepredefined (e.g., by an editor), and may specify that only episodes inthe current season and later seasons are recorded, where the currentseason is the season of the selected program to be recorded (e.g., theuser selected Season 5 Episode 6 of Game of Thrones to record, onlyseasons 5 and later would be recorded in the future).

The media guidance application may generate and display a program guidedisplaying a list of currently airing programs. The media guidanceapplication may display the programs in a grid format, where there are aset amount of rows. The media guidance application may display a channeland the program currently airing and the programs airing in the futurein each row. The media guidance application may generate a row in thegrid that gives the channel and times for each program.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may display eightrows in the grid, each dedicated to a specific channel.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate animage to be displayed behind the programs displayed in the grid. Themedia guidance application may retrieve an image from a database ofimages (e.g., from a database frequently updated on an online server) tobe displayed behind the programs displayed in the grid. The mediaguidance application may retrieve an image corresponding to thecurrently highlighted program that the user has navigated to. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the user hasnavigated (e.g., via buttons on a remote controller) to a program on atelevision channel (e.g., an episode of “Wynonna Earp” currently airingon the SYFY channel). The media guidance application may retrieve animage related to the program (e.g., a promotional photo for “WynonnaEarp,” a released picture from the currently highlighted episode of“Wynonna Earp,” etc.) to be displayed behind the grid.

The media guidance application may receive input from a controller(e.g., a remote controller). The media guidance application may displayon the user equipment, in response to receiving a user input of a “rightkey” on a controller, tuners in a plurality of tuners. The userequipment may contain multiple tuners. The media guidance applicationmay generate an overlay on the screen to display images associated witheach individual tuner (e.g., the current television show/movie beingcurrently shown on the channel tuned to by the tuner).

The media guidance application may generate and display on the userequipment, in response to receiving a user input of a “left key” on acontroller, an overlay displaying the user's favorite channels. Theuser's favorite channels may be selectable, and the media guidanceapplication may receive an input from the user (e.g., via a remotecontrol) selecting a channel from the favorites list. The media guidanceapplication may tune to the selected channel after receiving the user'sselection. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maydetermine that the favorite channels listed in the overlay aredetermined based on user selection. The user may select his/her favoritechannels, and this selection may be saved by the media guidanceapplication in the user profile. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine the user's favorite channels based on theuser's viewing history, user preferences, favorite applications, andother factors. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine, from the user's viewing history, that the user's favoritechannels are the channels that the user spent the most time viewing. Insome embodiments, the favorite channel overlay may be displayed on theleft side of the screen of the user equipment.

The media guidance application may generate and display on the userequipment, in response to receiving a user input of an “up key” on acontroller, an overlay displaying a one-line guide (e.g., a browse bar).The media guidance application may retrieve information (e.g., frommetadata for the currently viewed program/media asset) related toprogram guide information about the currently tuned to channel and mediacontent. The media guidance application may display the program guideinformation in the one-line guide, and may continuously update theinformation in realtime as the program guide information changes (e.g.,when one program ends and a different program begins directly after).

The media guidance application may generate and display on the userequipment, in response to receiving a user input of a “down key” on acontroller, an overlay displaying a quick view. The media guidanceapplication may display in the quick view recommended content for theviewer. The user may navigate to and select a piece of content in thequick view overlay, and the media guidance application may tune to theselected piece of content (e.g., tune to it on a tuner, play-back theselected content from a recording/storage copy, etc.).

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of each of FIGS. 8-12,16-20, 22, and 23 may be used with any other embodiment of thisdisclosure. It is contemplated that some steps or descriptions of eachof FIGS. 8-12, 16-20, 22, and 23 may be optional and may be omitted insome embodiments. In addition, the steps and descriptions described inrelation to FIGS. 8-12, 16-20, 22, and 23 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIGS. 8-12, 16-20, 22, and23.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the present disclosure may be embodied in a computer programproduct that includes a computer-usable and/or readable medium. Forexample, such a computer-usable medium may consist of a read-only memorydevice, such as a CD-ROM disk or conventional ROM device, or a randomaccess memory, such as a hard drive device or a computer diskette,having a computer-readable program code stored thereon. It should alsobe understood that methods, techniques, and processes involved in thepresent disclosure may be executed using processing circuitry. Theprocessing circuitry, for instance, may be a general purpose processor,a customized integrated circuit (e.g., an ASIC), or a field-programmablegate array (FPGA) within user equipment 300, media content source 416,or media guidance data source 418.

The processes discussed above in FIGS. 8-12, 16-20, 22, and 23 areintended to be illustrative and not limiting. One skilled in the artwould appreciate that the steps of the processes in FIGS. 8-12, 16-20,22, and 23 discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the disclosure. More generally, the above disclosureis meant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that followare meant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to,or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

While some portions of this disclosure may make reference to“convention,” any such reference is merely for the purpose of providingcontext to the invention(s) of the instant disclosure, and does not formany admission as to what constitutes the state of the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for scheduling content storage, themethod comprising: receiving a request to store a season of a series,wherein the series comprises a plurality of seasons; detecting that aseries progress indicator indicates that a last consumed episode of theseries belongs to a relevant season of the plurality of seasons thatprecedes another season of the plurality of seasons; identifying aplurality of available episodes of the series that are available forstorage on user equipment; automatically scheduling to be stored on theuser equipment episodes of the plurality of available episodes of theseries that belong to the relevant season and follow the episodeidentified by the series progress indicator, wherein the automaticscheduling excludes scheduling to be stored on the user equipmentepisodes of a season that precedes the relevant season and excludesscheduling to be recorded on the user equipment episodes of the relevantseason that precede the episode identified by the series progressindicator; storing all episodes scheduled to be stored on the userequipment.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: the automatic schedulingexcludes scheduling to be stored on the user equipment episodes of aseason that follows the given relevant season.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising maintaining the series progress indicator.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein maintaining the series progress indicatorcomprises monitoring which episode of the series is selected on a menuby the user.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein maintaining the seriesprogress indicator comprises: maintaining a list of episodes of theseries that were watched by the user; and determining which episodes ofthe episodes of the series that were watched by the user is the latestin the series.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determiningwhether all episodes of the relevant season that follow the episodeidentified by the series progress indicator are stored; and in responseto determining that all episodes of the relevant season that follow theepisode identified by the series progress indicator are stored,providing a completion notification to the user.
 7. The method of claim1, further comprising: determining whether any episode of the relevantseason that follows the episode identified by the series progressindicator is not available for storage; and in response to determiningthat at least one episode of the relevant series that follows theepisode identified by the series progress indicator is not available forstorage: determining that the at least one episode of the relevantseries is available for over-the-top (OTT) streaming; and providing anotification to the user, the notification comprising a hyperlink forstreaming the at least one episode of the relevant series via at leastone over the top (OTT) streaming service.
 8. The method of claim 7wherein determining that the at least one episode of the relevant seriesis available for OTT streaming comprises: accessing a user profile todetermine when the user has a subscription to the at least one OTTstreaming service.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprisingmonitoring a content availability schedule.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein monitoring the content availability schedule comprises:accessing a user profile to determine when the user has a subscriptionthat allows for storage of a plurality of available episodes of theseries.
 11. A system for scheduling content storage, the systemcomprising: memory; and control circuitry configured to: receive arequest to store a season of a series, wherein the series comprises aplurality of seasons; detect that a series progress indicator indicatesthat a last consumed episode of the series belongs to a relevant seasonof the plurality of seasons that precedes another season of theplurality of seasons; identify a plurality of available episodes of theseries that are available for storage on user equipment; automaticallyschedule to be stored on the user equipment episodes of the plurality ofavailable episodes of the series that belong to the relevant season andfollow the episode identified by the series progress indicator, whereinthe automatic scheduling excludes scheduling to be stored on the userequipment episodes of a season that precedes the relevant season andexcludes scheduling to be recorded on the user equipment episodes of therelevant season that precede the episode identified by the seriesprogress indicator; store, in the memory, all episodes scheduled to bestored on the user equipment.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein: theautomatic scheduling excludes scheduling to be stored on the userequipment episodes of a season that follows the given relevant season.13. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to maintain the series progress indicator.
 14. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the control circuitry configured to maintain theseries progress indicator is further configured to monitoring whichepisode of the series is selected on a menu by the user.
 15. The systemof claim 14, wherein the control circuitry configured to maintain theseries progress indicator is further configured to: maintain a list ofepisodes of the series that were watched by the user; and determinewhich episodes of the episodes of the series that were watched by theuser is the latest in the series.
 16. The system of claim 11, whereinthe control circuitry is further configured to: determine whether allepisodes of the relevant season that follow the episode identified bythe series progress indicator are stored; and in response to determiningthat all episodes of the relevant season that follow the episodeidentified by the series progress indicator are stored, provide acompletion notification to the user.
 17. The system of claim 11, whereinthe control circuitry is further configured to: determine whether anyepisode of the relevant season that follows the episode identified bythe series progress indicator is not available for storage; and inresponse to determining that at least one episode of the relevant seriesthat follows the episode identified by the series progress indicator isnot available for storage: determine that the at least one episode ofthe relevant series is available for over-the-top (OTT) streaming; andprovide a notification to the user, the notification comprising ahyperlink for streaming the at least one episode of the relevant seriesvia at least one over the top (OTT) streaming service.
 18. The system ofclaim 17 wherein the control circuitry configured to determine that theat least one episode of the relevant series is available for OTTstreaming is further configured to: access a user profile to determinewhen the user has a subscription to the at least one OTT streamingservice.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry isfurther configured to monitor a content availability schedule.
 20. Thesystem of claim 19, wherein the control circuitry configured to monitorthe content availability schedule is further configured to: access auser profile to determine when the user has a subscription that allowsfor storage of a plurality of available episodes of the series.